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In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to be English and Catholic was to face persecution, financial penalties, and sometimes death. Yet some English Catholics prospered, reconciling their faith and loyalty to their country. Among the most prominent was George Calvert, a talented and ambitious man who successfully navigated the politics of court and became secretary of state under King James I. A conforming Protestant from the age of twelve, Calvert converted back to Catholicism when a political crisis forced him to resign his position in 1625. The king rewarded Calvert by naming him Baron of Baltimore in Ireland. Insulated by wealth, with the support of powerful friends, and no longer occupied with court business, Baltimore sought to exploit his land grants in Ireland and Newfoundland. Seeking to increase his own fortune and status while enlarging the king's dominions, he embarked on a series of colonial enterprises that eventually led to Maryland.

The experiences of Calvert and his heirs foster our understanding of politics and faith in Jacobean England. They also point to one of the earliest codifications of religious liberty in America, for in founding Maryland, Calvert and his son Cecil envisioned a prosperous society based on freedom of conscience. In English and Catholic, John D. Krugler traces the development of the "Maryland Designe," the novel solution the Calverts devised to resolve the conflict of loyalty they faced as English Catholics. In doing so, Krugler places the founding and early history of Maryland in the context of pervasive anxieties in England over identity, allegiance, and conscience.

Explaining the evolution of the Calvert vision, Krugler ties together three main aspects of George Calvert's career: his nationalism and enthusiasm for English imperialism; his aim to find fortune and fame; and his deepening sense of himself as a Catholic. Skillfully told here, the story of the Calverts' bold experiment in advancing freedom of conscience is also the story of the roots of American liberty.

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This beautifully illustrated military history of the British and Irish Civil Wars offers an integrated account of the conflict that engulfed the kingdoms ruled by Charles I after 1638. On one hand, it studies the interaction between the Stuart kingdoms, comparing and contrasting their wartime experiences; on the other, it outlines the various civil wars which were fought in Scotland, Ireland, and England during the 1640s. Throughout the text, contributors examine how troops were raised, trained, clothed, armed, fed, and paid; the strategies adopted by the protagonists fighting in the various theatres of war; and the tactics used by their generals in combat. What role did siege warfare play in shaping the course of events? What contribution did seapower make to the conduct of combat on land? What impact did ten years of brutal conflict have on the populations of England, Ireland, and Scotland--especially on the women and children? Such are the questions this book aims to answer. ... Read more

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Collections of essays on the English Civil War
Unlike the previous reviewer, I thought this book did a pretty decent job in going through the entire aspect of the English Civil War from the very beginning to the Restoration of Charles II.

The book is a collection of essays written by seven different authors, edited by two people. I don't expect consistancy under these conditions and expect more diverse opinions and facts relating to the matter at hand. Each essay covered certain part of the long conflict that engulfed the British Isles between 1638-1660.

The book comes well armed with maps, illstrations and I thought it was quite readable. Anyone who read this book should have a decent background reading on the English Civil War prior since you will be reading an essay which don't give you much introduction space.

Not a military history
The subtitle of this book is misleading.It would be better to call it something like "Aspects of current research into the English Civil War era."There is no coherant narrative of the period, no summary of events, rather a series of separate chapters by workers in the field.If you do not already have a basic knowledge of the war in a little detail, you will be at least a little confused; certainly you will not get it from this book.As a collection from various authors, it also suffers from the incoherancy of that form; for instance, we are told early on that the New Model Army was extremely well-bahaved toward civilians, indulging in no looting or assaults, while later on we are told that both sides were responsible for many rapes of civilian women.Finally there is the tendency toward journalistic prose: several things "allegedly" happened, but we are not told by whom, or given any way to judge how reliable the allegations are.Such an abdication of the historian's responsibility (to non-historians, at any rate) makes the statement quite meaningless. ... Read more

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A Classic
Hello, world! Does anyone out there happen to realize that this is one of the best books EVER written about Irish-American history?Devoy's life is a great story--essential to any understanding of modern Irish history and any true appreciation of the complex fabric of immigrant history in the U.S. Golway performs the rarest of tricks in this book: he combines first-rate historical scholarship with wonderfully fluent, accessible prose. This book is a treasure and, as time goes on, its worth will become more and more apparent. ... Read more

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This is the true story of a wild dancing epidemic that brought death and fear to a 16th-century city, and the terrifying supernatural beliefs from which it arose.In July 1518 a terrifying and mysterious plague struck the medieval city of Strasbourg. Hundreds of men and women danced wildly, day after day, in the punishing summer heat. They did not want to dance, but could not stop. Throughout August and early September more and more were seized by the same terrible compulsion.By the time the epidemic subsided, heat and exhaustion had claimed an unfold number of lives, leaving thousands bewildered and bereaved, and an enduring enigma for future generations.Drawing on fresh evidence, John Waller's account of the bizarre events of 1518 explains why Strasbourg's dancing plague took place. In doing so it leads us into a largely vanished world, evoking the sights, sounds, aromas, diseases and hardships, the fervent supernaturalism, and the desperate hedonism of the late medieval world.At the same time, the extraordinary story this book tells offers rich insights into how people behave when driven beyond the limits of endurance.Above all, this is an exploration into the strangest capabilities of the human mind and the extremes to which fear and irrationality can lead us. ... Read more

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Great Concept but Weak Execution
"A Time to Dance a Time to Die" sounds better than it reads.Its the story of crazed dancing in 16th century Strasbourg involving several hundred people who are unable to stop except from exhaustion.Mr. Waller attempts to find the source of illness.He see the origins in the brutal conditions, the hunger and poverty of the citizens of Strasbourg, accentuated by the religiousity of those times.

But really what is so significant about a few hundred people going a bit nuts five hundred years ago?Supposedly there were deaths but probably not even twenty and its not completely clear that the cause was the dancing.The books title promises something more ghastly, a society gone haywire when in fact it was probably less then one percent of the population of the city involved.And given the paucity of sources about these events, it gives the book a hazy, unreal quality.Waller tries to be historically accurate and yet there is a feeling of thinness, of question marks around the most basic facts of the story.

Frankly, I think this book could have been a forty page essay.

A Most Intriguing Story
This is the fascinating account of the so-called dancing plague of 1518 Strasbourg. Although this type of plague does not appear to be as well-known as other remarkable events that have occurred in history, its 1518 occurrence was not the first and not quite the last. The author does an excellent job of setting the scene for this event on the political, cultural and especially religious fronts. The dancing plague itself is then described in great detail as are the attempts at curing the many who were so tragically afflicted. Since the ultimate cure may seem rather astonishing to the modern reader, the author finally compares this plague with other more or less equivalent events in the modern world. Consequently, the last chapter makes for fascinating reading on the nature of the human mind. The writing style is elegant and authoritative, scholarly but accessible and most engaging. This book can be enjoyed by anyone, but those with a penchant for medieval history and for psychology will be in for a special treat. ... Read more

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This study examines the Law Reports of Sir John Davies and litigation pleaded before the central Irish courts during the period in which Davies served in Ireland as solicitor-general (1603-6) and attorney-general (1606-19). The author's main concern is to explicate the legal and jurisprudential issues involved and to draw out their deeper political implications. He argues that, in the absence of a malleable parliament, judge-made law became the instrument by which the Jacobean regime consolidated the Tudor conquest. The book also touches on the influence of the implementation of the law on the Irish coinage, Gaelic tenurial customs and religious conformity. More controversial themes include the origins of precedent in the Anglo-American legal tradition, the use of continental civil law in common law litigation and the relationship of early modern Ireland to the development of an imperial jurisprudence. ... Read more

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Politics in the Republic of Ireland is now available in a fully revised fifth edition. Building on the success of the previous four editions, it continues to provide an authoritative introduction to all aspects of politics in the Republic of Ireland. Written by some of the foremost experts on Irish politics, it explains, analyzes and interprets the background to Irish government and contemporary political processes.

Bringing students up to date with the very latest developments, Coakley and Gallagher combine real substance with a highly readable style, providing an accessible textbook that meets the needs of all those who are interested in knowing how politics and government operate in Ireland.

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Mapping Irish Politics - a comprehensive guide
Politics in the Republic of Ireland is the most up-to-date and comprehensive text for both students and academics interested in Irish politics.

Now in its third edition, Gallagher and Coakley take the unusual step of adding substantially to their original text, bringing some of the most able commentators in the Irish field of political science together in the same volume. ... Read more

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The comprehensive defeat of the Jacobite Irish in the Williamite conflict, a component within the pan-European Nine Years' War, prevented the exiled James II from regaining his English throne, ended realistic prospects of a Stuart restoration and partially secured the new regime of King William III and Queen Mary that had been created by the Glorious Revolution. The principal events - the siege of Londonderry, the Battles of the Boyne and Augury, and the two sieges and Treaty of Limerick - have subsequently become totems around which opposing constructions of Irish history have been erected.

Child argues that the struggle was typical of the late-seventeenth century, principally decided by economic resources and attrition in which the `small war' comprising patrols, raids, occupation of captured regions by small garrisons, police actions against irregulars and attacks on supply lines was more significant in determining the outcome than the set-piece battles and sieges. ... Read more

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A detailed account marred by a dense text and poor maps
The overthrow of King James II during the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 is one of the key events of not just English history but Irish history as well.As king, James had pursued a policy of "Catholicization" in Ireland, allowing Catholics to serve in the army and the government, which fueled anxieties among the Protestant population.When news reached them of the dramatic events in England, the Protestants began defying the Catholic authorities, who responded to what soon became an uprising against Catholic rule.The result was three of the bloodiest and most destructive years in Irish history, as the island served as the battlefield on which broader struggles were waged.This war is the subject of John Childs's book, which details the campaigns from the initial unrest to the conclusion of the conflict.

Childs traces the success of the rebellion to the two-week period in 1688 when Derry was without a garrison, arguing that had the town been continuously occupied and the Protestants there suppressed the rebellion could not have prospered.Yet even with Derry the Protestants faced a difficult first year, as the more numerous Catholic forces gradually asserted control throughout the island.By the summer, only Derry and Enniskillen remained as Protestant holdouts, yet the arrival of forces under the command of Marshal Schomberg managed to secure most of Ulster before the end of the campaigning season.The new year saw an increased commitment of forces against the Catholics, one led by King William III himself.With William's army pressing down from the north, the two sides clashed at the Battle of the Boyne, which broke James's fragile resolve.His flight left his supporters with no other option than an attrition campaign that could buy them time in the hope that William might suffer defeats elsewhere that would salvage the situation for them.

Childs's book is primarily an operational history of the conflict that carefully traces the numerous skirmishes which characterized the "war of posts and ambuscades".This results in a dense text, one that makes it challenging to follow the sequence of events.Making matters worse are the inadequate maps provided, which provide only basic geographic details, rendering them less than helpful in following the various battles and campaigns.Better maps and subheadings within the chapters would have gone far into providing a more accessible history of the war than the one Childs has written, in which the value of his examination of the conflict is offset by its inaccessibility. ... Read more

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Many Roads
Brief biographic reports on hundreds of post-Reformation British and Irish converts, explaining why each embraced the faith. A prodigious research effort that is very timely given the Pope's visit to Britain and the beatification of England's most famous convert, Cardinal Newman. ... Read more

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From one of Ireland's favorite writers and most popular storytellers, a stockingful of Christmas surprises for any season. In this winning collection of seventeen original tales, John B. Keane plumbs the rich folk culture of Ireland as he portrays the holiday dreams and everyday shortcomings of ordinary country people during the Christmas season. Delightfully, and frequently sardonic, he casts his knowing eye on the foibles of Irish humanity and reveals the intelligences behind them with shrewdness and compassion. The skillfully related stories in Keane's congenial volume introduce the reader to the amusing particulars of the Christmases celebrated by characters like Dotie Tupper and Johnny Naile and the doughty Canon Doyle who, in one tale, routs the scoundrels intent on detaching the collection box from its place on the church wall and, in another, employs modern electronics to rehabilitate a fellow parish priest. In the process, Doyle comes to some surprising revelations about himself, as does a seasonal traveler named Masterman, whose festive lust goes so wildly awry that his dishonorable designs lead him to a moral light. Throughout this volume, whether visiting "The Greatest Wake of All" or illuminating "The Seven Year Trance" or telling the tales of "The Hermit of Scartnabrock" and "Awlingal Princess of Cunnackeenamadra," Keane bears benevolent testimony to the inhabitants and folk traditions of his colorful County Kerry. ... Read more

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Covers the Bases
Mr. Baur's book gives a good coherent view of this great American artists life. It includes many black and white renderings of Burchfield's works and a number of colored plates. While not up to present standards for such a book it does present Charles Burchfield's life with a minimum ofinterpretation using Burchfield's own diary entries and letters to expressthe artists thoughts. Could be better, an update would be helpful with allBurchfield's works rendered in color. Be sure to visit the new Burchfieldart center (as of 2000) at the corner of Union Road and Clinton Street onthe banks of the creek that Burchfield so loved inGardenville New York. ... Read more

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This completely updated and expanded second edition of the wide-ranging and accessible Routledge History of Literature in English covers the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature with accompanying language notes exploring the interrelationships between language and literature. Highly praised for its readability and narrative style it charts the principal features of literary language development and highlights key language topics. With a span of over a thousand years, from AD 600 to the present day, it emphasizes the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characteristics, and includes literature from the margins, both geographical and cultural. ... Read more

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For centuries, the Irish have been famed, and often derided, for their attachment to alcohol. Yet in the 1830s and 1840s, Ireland became a temperance stronghold. The man almost single handedly responsible for this surprising transformation was Father Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), a popular Franciscan friar. Over a ten-year period, five million Irish men, women, and children took the pledge at his hands, while hundreds of public houses were forced to shut their doors or switch to selling coffee and tea.By the end of the 1840s, however, Mathew's "miracle" was already coming undone. The Great Famine was ravaging Ireland and Mathew's years of nonstop campaigning had left him sick, exhausted, and bankrupt. Undeterred, he raveled to the United States in 1849 to generate support and administer the pledge to as many new immigrants as he could find. Failing health forced him to return to Ireland where he died in 1856, leaving behind a weak and fragmented movement.In the late nineteenth century, several Irish priests revived Mathew's crusade. In the United States, Irish American bishops supported the Catholic Total Abstinence Union (CTAU) and joined hands with the Women's Christian Temperance Union in their war against liquor. In Ireland, Father James Cullen formed the Pioneers, a total abstinence association for devout Catholics. While the CTAU languished after the United States Congress passed the Prohibition Amendment in 1919, the Pioneers continued to thrive in Ireland into the 1960s. Although the group's membership has declined in recent years, there are still today a large number of Irish teetotallers. ... Read more

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James J. Hill, Methodist and millionaire, president of the Great Northern Railroad and "Gilded Age" philanthropist, honored his devout Irish Catholic wife, Mary Theresa Mehegan Hill, by building and endowing a Catholic seminary, St. Paul Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1894. How this extraordinary event came about and its influence, past and present, on the Catholic Church and its people, especially in the upper midwest, is the subject of this informative book.

In meticulously researched detail, Christine Athans analyzes the development of the seminary from 1850-2000 within the context of broader national, international and ecclesiastical currents. She offers insights into the growth of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and brings to life the personalities of those who were integral to the growth and development of the seminary.

The first published volume on the history of the more than one-hundred-year-old St. Paul Seminary, this work will be of supreme interest to:

--religious historians.

--seminary educators and seminarians. --university and seminary libraries, alumni of St. Paul Seminary and the University of St. Thomas.

--anyone interested in American Catholicism. ... Read more

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John Ireland (1879-1962) was as elusive as the music that he composed. His music resists easy categorization, in part because it is linked so closely to specific events, places and people in Ireland's personal life. This text explores the expressive and extra-musical qualities of Ireland's compositions and their complex system of personal musical symbols, images and ideas. Fiona Richards interweaves biography and musical analysis in a series of chapters that take their themes from the significant influences in Ireland's life: Anglo-Catholicism, paganism, the countryside, the city, love and war. Ireland emerges as highly individual, struggling with his religious beliefs, his sexuality, and an uncertainty as to his success. His music, often an expression of a state of mind, is given, for the first time, the close investigation that it merits. Ireland preferred to compose on a small scale, showing a masterful command of form and a gift for melody. Richards's reveals how the essence of the man shines through in the miniatures that he wrote. ... Read more