Books published by Irish Academic Press Ltd

Thomas Meagher: Forgotten Father of Thomas Francis Meagher is a biography of the father of one of Ireland's most famous patriots. He emerges from his son's shadow as a man of deeply held political and religious principles. Born in Newfoundland, Canada, he was to be heavily influenced by his experiences on that rugged island. He settled in Waterford in 1819 and quickly established himself as a champion of political and religious equality. In 1842 he was elected Mayor of Waterford, the first Catholic to hold this office since the seventeenth century. Meagher served as an MP for the city from 1847 to 1857, and was a determined supporter of an independent Irish party to defend Irish interests at Westminster. A staunch follower of Daniel O'Connell, the age-old conflict between constitutional and revolutionary nationalism in Ireland was played out between him and his son, who was a leader of the 1848 Young Ireland rising. The fascinating and complex relationship between him and Thomas Francis is explored, presenting a very human story against the backdrop of political turbulence.

The Irish state came into being as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which was signed by a Sinn Féin delegation and the British government at 10 Downing Street in the early hours of 6 December that year. The Treaty was a culmination of both a revolutionary movement that had begun the previous decade and of centuries of separate nationalist attempts to gain autonomy from the United Kingdom.Although it is the founding document of the Irish state, the Treaty has been the subject of very little critical analysis, certainly in proportion to its significance. In its centenary year, this book examines the Treaty's legacy and its implications for the state that it created. It explores three key elements: the contemporary circumstances that produced the Treaty; the Treaty's significance from a comparative and an international perspective; and the impact of the Treaty both in the short-term and the long-term.Birth of a State is unique in that it is written by authors from two different disciplines--history and political science--who each bring their own perspectives on the Treaty and its impact, both then and now.

Reconciling Ireland is a unique guide to the history of the last half-century, compiling as it does all the texts of the key British-Irish agreements relating to Northern Ireland for the first time.

Eloquent collection of essays by Belfast-born poet, written over four decades, exploring Northern Irish Protestant identity.

Covering the years 1920-1925, Without a Dog's Chance is the first major study of Northern nationalists' role in the Boundary Commission that they, and their allies in the Irish Free State, had hoped to use to end partition and destroy the new Northern state. For Northern nationalists, the partition of Ireland was an intensely traumatic event, not only because it consigned almost half a million nationalists to a government that was not of their choosing, but also because they regarded partition as the mutilation of their Irish citizenship and nationhood. Without a Dog's Chance fills an important gap in the history of this period by focusing on the complex relationship between partition-era Northern and Southern nationalism, and the subordinate role Northern nationalists had in Ireland's post-partition political landscape. Feeling under-valued, abandoned and exploited by their peers in the South, Northern nationalists were also radically marginalised within the new Northern Irish state, which regarded them with fear and suspicion. With December 2020 marking one hundred years since partition, this timely book is essential reading.

This landmark study of the life of republican leader Liam Mellows brings together letters, speeches, political writings and captured IRA documents to explore his short but dramatic life. Mellows was at the forefront of the republican movement in Ireland from its inception. Following the Easter Rising, he spent four years as the IRA's representative in New York, attempted to import arms into Ireland, was jailed, and - worst of all - branded an informer by the Mayor of New York. Arriving back in Ireland in 1920, Mellows was responsible for the importation of arms for the republican forces during the Independence struggle. Bitterly opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he became an implacable opponent of Michael Collins, and his role in helping form the anti-Treaty IRA in 1922 contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. Mellows' execution in December 1922 was among the most divisive acts of the new Irish state, and he remains an enigmatic icon for Irish republicans. Liam Mellows, Soldier of the Irish Republic, examines his beliefs, his fraught personal relationships and political betrayals, and sheds new light on his struggle in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.

In Dublin, the Wood Quay-Fishamble Street archaeological excavations were a constant media story throughout the 1970s and 1980s, when the threat of official destruction brought thousands of protestors into the streets. Although this highly-publicized protest failed to "Save Wood Quay," it did force the most extensive urban excavations ever undertaken in Europe that yielded more unprecedented data about town layout in Dublin 1,000 years ago than about any other European Viking town of the time. Dozens of often nearly intact building foundations, fences, yards, pathways, and quaysides, as well as thousands of artifacts and environmental samples, were unearthed in the course of the campaign. In this book, Dr. Pat Wallace, the chief archaeologist who directed the Wood Quay and Fishamble Street excavations, provides a detailed examination of the implications of these discoveries for Viking-Age and Anglo-Norman Dublin by placing them in their national and international contexts. Lavishly illustrated with over 500 color images, maps, and drawings, together with detailed descriptions and analyses of the artifacts, this pioneering study gathers all the finds and discusses them in the context of parallel discoveries in Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, and northern Europe, with the historical, economic, and cultural milieu of Hiberno-Scandinavian Dublin as the background. *** "This marvelous work memorializes a major archaeological discovery unearthed in Dublin between 1974 and 1981. Structural remains from 840 through 1169 CE, the most extensive for any site north of the Alps, were excavated by Patrick Wallace, who now analyzes his finds from Wood Quay, Fishamble Street, and related sites. A lively text and numerous photos enliven the hundreds of buildings unearthed.... Highly recommended." --Choice, Vol. 54, No. 4, December 2016 [Subject: History, Archaeology, Viking Studies, Medieval Studies, Art History, Irish Studies]