Malachi O’Doherty
Up the (Peaceful) Rebels
Mary Lou McDonald: A Republican Riddle
By Shane Ross
Atlantic Books 416pp £16.99
The leader of Sinn Féin since 2018, Mary Lou McDonald has achieved for the party a respectability in Irish politics that it never had before. She might conceivably be the next Taoiseach or the powerbroker with whom other parties will have to negotiate a coalition if they want a share of government in Dublin.
This is a prospect that was never in view for Gerry Adams, her predecessor. While Adams was one of the most successful leaders in recent Irish politics, heading Sinn Féin for more than three decades and bringing it into power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, for the party to grow in the Republic of Ireland he knew he had to hand over to somebody unlike him. Adams was believed by the security services to have been the top man in the IRA and was able to build huge support for Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland and in the border counties on the back of the credit given to him as a peacemaker. But that same association with the IRA tarnished him badly in the eyes of the southern electorate.
Adams wanted to find someone who was capable of retaining the support of former IRA members and sympathisers and who had the political skills and eloquence needed for the job, someone who was even better than him at refusing to give a straight answer to a straight question. Specifically,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm