“And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. Dear readers: We hope that you are enjoying a summer respite from the pandemic and reuniting with friends and family. We are living through strange and stressful times, to be sure, but I do not doubt that things will get better. History makes … [Read more...] about The First Word: There’s No Hope in History
Issues
Darina Molloy’s Irish Book Reviews
By Darina Molloy
Summer 2021
A Galway Epiphany by Ken Bruen Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor series – set in Galway – are very much books of their place and time. Bruen evokes Galway so realistically that the reader is there with Jack as he meanders down Shop Street or heads for a pint in Garavan’s or encounters trouble down by the Corrib. And because Jack listens to the same news, we watch through his eyes as a … [Read more...] about Darina Molloy’s Irish Book Reviews
The Shannon Greenway
The future is bright for communities along Ireland’s longest river as the Shannon Greenway is coming soon. Ireland’s majestic Shannon River is celebrated in song and story, and now plans are afoot for a Greenway that will make it more accessible to all. The proposed corridor will run on the western shore of the river from Cavan through Leitrim, Roscommon, Galway … [Read more...] about The Shannon Greenway
The Agitator: Leonora O’Reilly
By Rosemary Rogers
Summer 2021
“You men say to us: ‘Your place is in the home,’ yet as children we must come out of the home at 11, at 13, and at 15 years of age to earn a living. We have got to make good or starve.” The charismatic and powerful public speaker who pushed for equal pay for equal work, better labor standards, and overall empowerment for women is profiled by Rosemary Rogers. Leonora … [Read more...] about The Agitator: Leonora O’Reilly
Photo Album: The Wealth of the World
At rest, this picture belongs to a wedding album from 1966. Plain, awkward even, it was composed by the photographer whose job it was to snap the parents of the groom. It doesn’t speak of small Galway farms disappearing over shoulders, the ride over the sea, their names. They are Edward Donohoe and Winnie, who was first Una Ryan, then Winnie Donohoe and, for an afternoon, Jane … [Read more...] about Photo Album: The Wealth of the World