Judging Dev, New Book by Diarmaid Ferriter

[Verhofstadt]

Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon De Valera

by Diarmaid Ferriter

Synopsis (from Amazon)
Eamon de Valera has often been characterised as a stern, un-bending, devious and divisive Irish politician. But how valid is this caricature? In "Judging Dev", Diarmaid Ferriter re-examines de Valera's life and legacy. It contains an in-depth analysis of the impact of de Valera and includes many previously unpublished key letters, documents and photographs from the National Archives of Ireland and the UCD Archives to chronicle the extraordinary career of the most significant politician of modern Irish history and his role in the history of the Irish state.


I just got a mail from Amazon re this as I had previously both his book The Transformation of Ireland. Lookd interesting but I've only got the above synopsis to go on.

I'm living in Belgium so don't catch all reviews etc. Has there been much pre-publicity about this book and previews etc .. will it be worth shelling out or should I wait for the paperback.

thanks

Guy

[905]

First I heard.

[Verhofstadt]

Since I didn't get a huge feedback here I googled "Judging Dev" and up came http://www.dev.ie/

It appears RTE will also be running a documentary series linked to the book as part of a larger project with the Royal Irish Academy.

[Catalpa]

I read he was writing a new bio of Dev but didn't think it would be out so soon.

From what I can gather its to be somewhat of a rehabilitation - long overdue IMO.

I still havn't even started on TTOI even though I forked out for a copy!

[Dawson]

Judging Dev is a huge book with over 400 pages of photos and documents from Dev's personal papers and the National Archives. My favourite is a letter from Archbishop McQuaid (p.207) in which he speaks about 'other christians'. Its chilling.

Two of the many great photos is of Dev meeting Churchill at Downing Street in 1953 p. 267 and meeting Nehru p.157

The funniest piece is an account of a conversation between Devalera and the British Ambassador P.210-13. In it Dev declares that the American presidential system is a dictatorship, rugby is the game the Irish are most suited too and that he wrote most of the constitution himself.

Extracts will appear in the Irish Examiner on 13 & 15th October
Tim Pat Coogan's review will appear in the Irish Independent on 13th Oct.
Reviews will also appear in the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Business Post on 14th October. The Irish TImes are running an article by Diarmaid Ferriter on 13th.

The book is also available to buy online at www.ria.ie

[Cogadh]

Read the extract and Ferriter's article. Interesting stuff. It seems Ferriter had access to alot of personal letters, there's even some racy content (at least by de Valera's standard!). From what I read it would appear that the book will look at his personal life alot more than other biogs which will hopefully put his personality in context and help dispel some of the myths that surround dev.

It should be an interesting and I have to say proper look at de Valera's life and legacy is long overdue.

[Odyessus]

Judging Dev is a huge book with over 400 pages of photos and documents from Dev's personal papers and the National Archives. My favourite is a letter from Archbishop McQuaid (p.207) in which he speaks about 'other christians'. Its chilling.

Two of the many great photos is of Dev meeting Churchill at Downing Street in 1953 p. 267 and meeting Nehru p.157

The funniest piece is an account of a conversation between Devalera and the British Ambassador P.210-13. In it Dev declares that the American presidential system is a dictatorship, rugby is the game the Irish are most suited too and that he wrote most of the constitution himself.

Extracts will appear in the Irish Examiner on 13 & 15th October
Tim Pat Coogan's review will appear in the Irish Independent on 13th Oct.
Reviews will also appear in the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Business Post on 14th October. The Irish TImes are running an article by Diarmaid Ferriter on 13th.

The book is also available to buy online at www.ria.ie

"My favourite is a letter from Archbishop McQuaid (p.207) in which he speaks about 'other christians'. Its chilling."[/quote]


What do you mean by "chilling"? McQuaid referring to "other christians"?
What exactly are you talking about?

[Dawson]

McQuaid's letter to de Valera about the constitution refers to Protestants as 'other christians'. He writes 'I have been thinking much about it. Of course they claim the title [christian] but as so very many in all these churches deny the divinity of Christ unlike their ancestors. They have truly ceased to be christian. Very often they are only ethical'.
To me that viewpoint is chilling.

[toxic avenger]

McQuaid's letter to de Valera about the constitution refers to Protestants as 'other christians'. He writes 'I have been thinking much about it. Of course they claim the title [christian] but as so very many in all these churches deny the divinity of Christ unlike their ancestors. They have truly ceased to be christian. Very often they are only ethical'.
To me that viewpoint is chilling.

Chilling in what way? In that it was an astute observation on the reality of many Anglican clerics who saw Christ as little more than a lifestyle guru? Clerics who would not stand by the Resurrection and who often preferred fudging issues than standing for moral absolutes. This is a clear fact, not making a value judgment one way or another on that, but how on Earth can that be called 'chilling' when even a committed atheist could agree with the statement?

[Catalpa]

Just bought the book today and I must say it looks impressive. Huge number of photos and documents incl. in novel (for Irish History anyway) format.

Ferriter has drawn heavily on the UCD Archives but his research spreads further than that by a quick look at his references.

I certainly intend to get stuck into this one anyway!