A novel by Edna O'Brien One warm summer evening last year, I picked up a first edition of The Country Girl from the bookshelf in a house where I was staying and I did not leave my place by the window until I had read it from start to finish. To read the story of Kate and Baba after 30 years was like drinking clear spring water from the wells that abound in Miss O'Brien's … [Read more...] about Time and Tide
1992
Patrick Ronayne Cleburne: The Stonewall Jackson of the West
History has largely forgotten Patrick Ronayne Cleburne. Perhaps this is not surprising. Like many Irishmen throughout history, he fought on the losing side of a foreign war and, as we know, history is written by the victors. However, since Americans are presently given to Civil War retrospectives, it is fitting that we remember one of the Confederacy's greatest military … [Read more...] about Patrick Ronayne Cleburne: The Stonewall Jackson of the West
Brothers In Arms
Remembering the five Sullivan brothers, World War II sailors who, serving together on the USS Juneau, were all killed in action on its sinking around November 13, 1942. November 8, 1942: the largest U.S. naval task force yet assembled for the battle of Guadalcanal sales out of Noumea, New Caledonia. Among the American warships was the year-old, light cruiser U.S.S … [Read more...] about Brothers In Arms
Roots: The O’Neills
There are several different septs of the O'Neills in Counties Clare (where the name is also spelt O'Nihill), Waterford and Carlow. The most famous of the O'Neills, however, are the O'Neills of Tyrone, in the province of Ulster. The name in Gaelic means descendant of Neil or Niall, which was, and still is, a popular personal name in Ireland. In the U.S. the name is sometimes … [Read more...] about Roots: The O’Neills





