Alexander Nimmo and the Western District - Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill
When we complain about the state of the roads in Connemara today it might be a salutary exercise to look back to the experiences of Scottish engineer Alexander Nimmo. It was he who undertook the hazardous and difficult journeys around Galway and Mayo to devise and lay out the system we have today, and the conditions now pale into insignificance when compared with those he endured. In this excellently presented study of Nimmo, Ms Villiers-Tuthill provides details of works carried out, of reports delivered to central Government and of the cost of various works involving roads, bridges and piers. Having had experience of road and bridge building in the Highlands of Scotland, Nimmo was admirably placed to take on the task of providing a network of communication for a region that was desolate, populated by a sparse peasantry and in economic distress. The government of the day was anxious for the responsibility of the roads to be handed over to local Grand Juries, and this Nimmo failed to accomplish in most cases, blaming a lack of resources for his failure. Eventually his accounting system was called into question, though he was exonerated of any wrongdoing, and another engineer, John Killaly, was sent in to take over from him; it is interesting to note that, according to the same Ms Edgeworth, Mr. Killaly had no better luck with the bridge at Leenaun than did his predecessor. While acknowledging that Nimmo was opportunistic in his establishing the village of Roundstone and letting out premises to government workers, Ms Villers-Tuthill has striven with some success to exonerate his reputation and has brought to life a man who until now has been but a name to most people. Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill, is the author of five books and numerous articles on the history of Connemara. Her books include History of Clifden 1810-1860 (1982), Patient Endurance: The Great Famine in Connemara (1997), History of Kylemore Castle & Abbey (2002) and her latest, Alexander Nimmo & The Western District (2006).
Subtitled "Irish Geniuses and Asperger's Syndrome", this book sets out to give evidence of the presence of Asperger's Syndrome in nine notable Irish people, a fairly formidable task given the range of symptoms that can be applied to the condition. The authors have presented two full pages of these symptoms under several headings and it is difficult to read through the list without coming to the conclusion that at least some of the signs could be applied to a large section of the population. The word portraits of the nine provide fine condensed biographies of the subjects but I'm not convinced they prove the nine geniuses all suffered from this type of autism. Some attempt has been made to consider specific aspects with regard to each of the personalities. For example fluency in speech, or the lack of it, is one marked symptom and evidence is presented that Robert Boyle had a "habit of stammering and repetition of words". A deficiency in fine motor movements is also cited as a symptom, though it seems rather harsh to attribute this problem to William Hamilton on the grounds that "by the age of seven he still had a childish scrawl". Which of us hadn't, I wonder? A spiritual sense, difficulty in forming relationships, especially with women, a total focus on the task in hand and an ability to screen out all interruptions are also common characteristics of the nine subjects, and would seem to support the proposal that they were all affected in some way by the condition. Michael Fitzgerald is Henry Marsh Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin and is the leading expert on Asperger's and autism in Ireland today. Antoinette Walker is a freelance editor and writer who has worked in publishing in Ireland for ten years, with the Irish Medical Journal, Blackwater Press and Folens Publishers.
The Story of the Irish from the English Invasion to the Present Day - Carmel McCaffrey
Carmel McCaffrey has succeeded in compiling a history of Ireland which is completely accessible without losing credibility. Using original sources ranging from Giraldus Cambrensis to the Annals of the Four Masters and through to contemporary newspaper reports, she presents Ireland over the past eight centuries through its people, both heroic and humble. The concise sections help to focus the reader on the topic under examination, from the original invasion of the Normans at the invitation of Dermot MacMurrough, two years before the better known Bannow Bay landing, to the development of the troubles in the North over the past thirty years. Ms McCaffrey points out on several occasions that the initial inability of the English to conquer Ireland was due to the lack of political unity in this country, and to the tendency of the conquerors to integrate with the local community. Religion, too, is a consistent focus, notably the autonomous aspect of the Catholic Church in Ireland which successive popes tried to stamp out. Unity between the Catholics and Protestants in their common goal of ousting the English is a recurring theme; it was not until later in the nineteenth century that nationalism began to be identified with Catholicism. The author has succeeded in conveying scholarly material in an almost conversational style that brings an immediacy to the content of this history. It is both an excellent introduction to a subject that can be confusing, and an extremely useful source of reference to those who do not come new to the topic. Carmel McCaffrey is a native of Dublin and lectures on Irish history, literature, culture, and language at Johns Hopkins University and at the Smithsonian Institution. She lives in Mount Airy, Maryland.
