Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Making of Modern Ireland
“The Ireland I now inhabit is one that these Irish contemporaries have helped to imagine.” – Seamus Heaney
The history of a nation all too often depends on an admixture of truths, half-truths and mythology; exemplified by the story of Britain and Ireland. Both countries were part of the Angevin Empire that controlled an area from the banks of the Shannon to the Centre of France until after its defeat by the French, in 1399. But Ireland did not experience English rule until her colonisation by Henry VIII in the 16th Century.
Basing their story on past ills which resulted in the 1798 Rising by the United Irishmen and the birth of republicanism, together with carefully selected facts, folklore and historically inaccurate assumptions, the Fenians produced a mythology which was in part responsible for the Rising of 1916. Few are aware that this would not have been possible but for the secret connivance of the enemies of Irish freedom, while Ireland gained her independence not by the Rising but as a result of British over-reaction which produced the War of Independence.
The Making of Modern Ireland looks at the broad sweep of the nation’s history from the 12th Century, when it was part of the Angevin Empire, right up to 2009 and the government of Brian Cowan. Geoff Robinson’s narrative offers an alternative view, stripped of the half-truths and mythology, that has passed for much of the country’s history.
Though born and educated in England, Geoff Robinson is an Irish citizen who has lived in Ireland for over fifty years. An unswerving believer in the rectitude of the Irish cause, he knew many who had been involved in the 1916 Rising and later came to meet others of such divergent political views as the daughter of a Redmondite MP and the editor of the “Bulletin”, a clandestine newssheet published during the War of Independence. Following his marriage in 1966 to Bernadette Tiernan, a national teacher, he developed an interest in Irish politics. His wife’s revelation that no critical examination of the events leading up to the 1916 Rising was contained in the schools curriculum, prompted him to make a re-evaluation of Irish history which has resulted in his book, The Making of Modern Ireland. He lives in Dublin with his wife Bernadette and at 88 years old Geoff Robinson proves that it’s never too late to write your first book.
You can buy the book HERE
Monday, July 13, 2009
Broughton Street Book Shop – Edinburgh
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Stones in The Park – Book Signing in Kelso
The Stones in the Park tells this amazing story as well as featuring many unseen photographs
For the Rolling Stones everything changed in the summer of ’69. They were no longer the blues band that Brian Jones had put together in 1962, they had stopped being a pop band and had hardly performed on stage since 1967 – and it was live that the Stones always excelled. This is the story of the thirty-three days in the summer of ‘69 during which The Rolling Stones changed forever. Drug busts, fall-outs, at least one album that failed to live up to expectations and uncertainty surrounded the band, they had flirted with psychedelia but were on the cusp of becoming the ‘Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.
It tells how, on Sunday 8 June 1969 Brian Jones left the band he had founded, and less than a month later he tragically died just days before the band played a free concert in London’s Hyde Park for somewhere close to 500,000 people. Unfortunately, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both missed their old band mate’s funeral, Mick was in Australia filming Ned Kelly (his performance recorded in numerous unseen photographs).
Undaunted, the Stones, who have always been greater than the sum of their parts, recruited Mick Taylor to play guitar in place of Brian, recorded one of their greatest ever singles and played the largest ever concert in Britain to that point, and Mick Jagger, like many pop singers before him, went off to be a film star. They also became – The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World and since then the Rolling Stones have gone on to be watched in concert by more people than any other band. They have come to epitomise everything that is excessive, exciting, powerful, lavish and brilliant about rock music. They are dynastic, imperial and majestic... true Rock Royalty.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Judith Miller at Mainstreet Trading in St Boswells
Judith will be giving a talk about how she got into antiques in the first place, and looking at the world of antiques and collecting today as it is today.
She has also generously agreed to do some valuations on smaller items and answer questions.
Tickets: £5 per head (includes a 10% discount on any Judith Miller titles purchased on the day)
To book, please email: info@mainstreetbooks.co.uk
Please note that space is limited so it is essential to book in advance
Date: Saturday 4th July, 3-5pm
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Book Cafe 8 June
Sunday, May 24, 2009
BBC Book Cafe 25 May
I've also just heard from Sarah Kersley, whose bookshop in Brazil I featured at the start of May, will also be on the show. The power of the t'internet!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Book Cafe 18 May
Clare English will also chat to one of the world’s top rare book dealers Rick Gekoski – who has been plied with alcohol by Graham Greene, threatened with a law suit by J. D. Salinger, berated by Ted Hughes, and helped J.R.R Tolkien move house…
Plus a look at international crime fiction and a report from the Christian Aid book sale in Edinburgh.
Getting Closer to Buddy Holly
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Looking for Agnès: a tale of passion and paper trails
Barbara Mellor will be talking about her work translating the remarkable WW2 diary, Resistance by Agnès Humbert. Barbara's passion for the history of the French Resistance grew from her love for France, where she has lived on and off for many years, and her work as a translator specialising in books on French art and history. When she stumbled upon Agnès Humbert's original French diary, Notre Guerre, she knew she had found something extraordinary; she took it to an editor at Bloomsbury, and within eighteen months it had been published to acclaim in ten languages. Barbara will be talking about how she found the French diary and unearthed details of Agnès Humbert's remarkable life and family; the experience of translating Résistance and bringing this forgotten voice to a far greater audience; and the continuing story of new discoveries since publication of the hardback edition in 2008.
I've read the book – it's brilliant; so I can't wait to hear the story behind its writing.