The Unfinished Revolution

Well I have continued reading Morgan Llywelen's series on Ireland in the 20th century. most recently with 1972, which starts in 1949 where the last book leaves off, and follows Ursula Halloran's fortunes and focuses on her son, Barry as he struggles with the Republican legacy he inherited from his Grandfather Ned Halloran, who fought in the Easter Rising in 1916 and the subsequent civil war. Barry joins the IRA and takes part in some border raids where he is baptized by fire and finds his idealism confronted by the reality of war. The story climaxes with Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972.


I always had a pretty superficial understanding of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, but this book does a good job of painting a picture of the situation and how complex and horrifying it was. The IRA had been pretty weak and powerless for quite a while, and the Catholics in the Six Counties in the North were pretty much at the mercy of the Protestant, Loyalist and Unionist forces who beat, killed and burned out poor Catholic families with impunity. When the violence got out of hand, the British sent troops in which the Catholics at first welcomed, thinking they would be afforded some measure of protection. They were quick to realize that the British troops were on the side of the Protestants and did nothing to protect them.


Couple this with the fact that the government of the Republic did everything they could to suppress and destroy the IRA, the Volunteers, as they called themselves, were not safe anywhere. They saw their mission to be to make life as difficult as possible for the British forces, government of Northern Ireland and paramilitary groups who were making life miserable for Catholics in the North. The Provisional IRA, or Provos, broke off from the Official IRA, basically over the use of force. The Official IRA was more interested in the political process than in taking action in the North.


Well pretty soon there is violence everywhere, and while the IRA gets most of the bad press, there are some horrifying acts committed by Orange and Green alike, and it is easy to see why there is so much bitterness and rancor on both sides. I am currently reading the sequel, 1999 which culminates with the Good Friday Accord. The fact that there ever was an agreement is amazing, given all the bloodshed and violence that took place.

Currently Playing:

World of Warcraft (back again)

Currently Listening to:

The Clancy Brothers
The Aquabats
XM 53 Fungus

Last Movie Seen:

Get Smart

I loved it, thought Steve Carrell played it just right, not over the top, which would have been easy to do - it could have been a Saturday Night Live skit easily.

Just in Time for St. Patrick's Day

My reading of late has included a number of books by Morgan Llywelyn, covering a number of different aspects of Irish history. Until recently though, most of these have been from Eire's distant, sometimes mythical past, including Cuchulainn, Finn Mac Cool, and more recently, Brian Boru, the king who came closer than anyone ever had before or since to creating a completely united Ireland, til his death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.

I have recently been reading a series dealing with more recent matters beginning with the book "1916". I am actually not finished with it yet, but it has inspired me to do alot of further research and reading. The book centers around events leading up to the Easter Uprising in, of course, 1916. The story begins a number of years earlier with the character of Ned Halloran, who is on his way to America for his sister's wedding, and is unfortunately taking this voyage on the Titanic. The book follows Ned as he goes off to boarding school, and as he becomes a part of life in Dublin, which includes immersion into the politics and factions in town. He becomes involved in an assortment of revolutionary groups that end up being an integral part in the ultimately unsuccessful Easter Uprising in 1916, in which a number of key buildings in Dublin are seized by revolutionaries, but eventually crushed by the British, leading to the execution of several of the key leaders, but ends up bringing to prominence several other revolutionaries including Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera.

I have never known that much about recent Irish history other than what I saw on the news, but this book has done a good job of cutting though and explaining all the different factions and their disagreements and sorting out all the different groups, while making it all real and immersing the reader in the whole scene. Sinn Fein really is separate from the IRA, just like they always said - who knew?

1916 is just the first book in the series that follows the fate of the Irish throughout the 20th century and their quest for Independence from Britain, the tumult of the civil war that followed, and all the way through the troubles centered around Northern Ireland culminating in the Good Friday Accord. It has encouraged me to learn more on my own, and to me that is one of the hallmarks of a good book. On a related note, I would also recommend the movie "Michael Collins" starring Liam Neeson, with Neeson as the title character. It starts with the end of the Easter Uprising following Collins through his exploits in the war against Britain and the civil war that followed. It also stars Julia Roberts and Alan Rickman. Warning - it is a bit violent, but then again, given the subject matter, that is to be expected.

Also Flogging Molly is in town tonight promoting their new album "Float", but having been sick, I am unable to go. It's a really good album though, their first one recorded in Ireland, and has a mature sound to it, and Dave King's thought provoking lyrics. Check it out if you have the chance.

Like I Need More Books...

I have recently discovered an author whose books I have been trying to track down. Her name is Morgan Llywellen and she writes about all things Irish. Her fiction usually gets put in the fantasy section, but covers a variety of different topics, some historical fiction both recent and reaching back to the dawn of Irish history, some based on mythological figures. The first book of hers I read is 'Druids' and it is the story of the Celtic tribes of Gaul, focusing on a tribe in northern Gaul around present-day Chartres where the sacred druid grove was. The tale centers around Ainvar, the Chief Druid and his friendship with Vercingetorix, the warrior who united the Celtic Gauls against Julius Caesar and the Romans. A fascinating story of the Gallic wars from the other perspective. It did make me want to find a translation of Caesar's 'The Gallic Wars' which I haven't done yet. The sequel to it dealt with Ainvar and his tribe fleeing Gaul for Ireland after the Roman's victory and the capture of Vercingetorix. I found a couple more at Half-Price Books dealing with Cuchulain and Finn Mac Cool. Irish history and mythology has always fascinated me but I have never known where to start, and it's funny to see all the old familiar place names that I knew from playing Hibernian characters in Dark Age of Camelot come to life and find out about the real places they were based on. Of course it is readily apparent that Irish history and mythology have a habit of intertwining and it's not always easy to tell what is truth and what is myth.

music I'm currently listening to:

Ella Fitzerald

books I am currently reading:

Star Wars: Truce at Bakura
Red Branch by Morgan Llywellyn
Ragamuffin Gospel (yes, again) by Brennan Manning
(I was inspired by his recent visit to our church for a weekend conference)

currently playing:

World of Warcraft

A New Robin Hood

I just finished listening to the Audible version of Stephen Lawhead's latest book, "Hood", a re-telling of the Robin Hood story. If anyone else had tried what Lawhead did, I'm not sure I would have been interested in a total trans-location of the old, familiar tale seen in so many different versions over the years. If you are anywhere close to my age, then you too, when you hear the name Robin Hood, might just have the same image pop into your head that usually pops into mine, that of the animated, anthropomorphized fox in the Disney version. Along the way, I have also seen Kevin Costner, Carey Elwes, and Daffy Duck portray the noble thief. I've seen stills and short clips of Erroll Flynn as Robin, but never seen the whole movie. The one thing all these versions of the tale have in common is the setting and trappings of Medieval England and the backdrop of the Crusades. Good King Richard is away fighting on foreign soil and John is scheming to take over his throne, aided by the Sheriff of Nottingham and involving all the other familiar names you've heard before.

If you have read Lawhead's Arthur books, then you are familiar with his technique. In that case he took an old familiar story that everyone thought they new and reset it out of its familiar setting and relocated it among the Briton tribes fighting for their survival amidst the Saxon invasion and the withdrawal of the Roman legions in about the 7th or 8th century, with most of the action taking place in what we now call Wales. After much research, Lawhead concluded that based on the scant historical evidence that does exist, there was a real person that the Arthur legends are based on and he was probably a British battle chief who lived at about this time, and won some real, historically significant and recorded battles, namely the Battle of Badon Hill.

In Hood, the author does something very similar. He looked into the Robin Hood stories and concluded that they had an origin prior to their most famous incarnation. There was a whole collection of stories that were circulated all over the Island by wandering minstrels and storytellers that told little bits and pieces of the story we know now in different versions, with an incredible variety of names and locations. These stories were not stitched together into one complete tale until many years later.

This current version of Robin Hood is set in what is now called Wales. The Cymry tribes, consider themselves Britons, as opposed to the English, and especially the Franks (actually they are Normans, but the locals consider anyone from across the Channel a Frank). The time is shortly after the Norman conquest. William II is trying to fill The Conqueror's shoes, and the Franks are dividing up the island among themselves. The Britons are chafing under the yoke of the Franks, and are being overworked and overtaxed to fuel the building of new towns and castles.

One of the other factors the Author cites as to his choice of settings is the fact that most of the forests in England were well-managed business properties, whereas the forests in Wales were still primeval and undeveloped, still a fearsome wilderness, not a well-kept garden preserve like most of the English forests. It would have been possible to hide for years without being seen in the trackless forests of Wales, but not in the dwindling Sherwood Forest.

Enough detail. Suffice it to say, that in my opinion, Mr. Lawhead does, in fact pull it off. The setting makes a lot of sense, and the scenario of the Britons struggling to survive amidst the incursion of this new, alien culture and military power fits the legend well. Without giving anything away, the author paints vivid pictures of the Celtic culture and mindset and its contrast with the Normans who were changing everything. I look forward to more in this series.
Listening to it in audio form was especially instructive, given the plethora of tongue-twisting Celtic names and places, but I still plan on getting it in print.

New Tolkien

reprinted from the Independant

Tolkien Jr. Completes Lord of the Rings

The last, unfinished book by the 'Lord of the Rings' author has been completed by his son. Can a film version be far behind?

By Jonathan Thompson
Published: 25 March 2007
The first new Tolkien novel for 30 years is to be published next month. In a move eagerly anticipated by millions of fans across the world, The Children of Húrin will be released worldwide on 17 April, 89 years after the author started the work and four years after the final cinematic instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of biggest box office successes in history.

The book, whose contents are being jealously guarded by publisher HarperCollins - is described as "an epic story of adventure, tragedy, fellowship and heroism."
It is likely to be a publishing sensation, particularly as it is illustrated by veteran Middle Earth artist Alan Lee, who won an Oscar for art direction on Peter Jackson's third film The Return of The King. Lee provided 25 pencil sketches and eight paintings for the first edition of the book, one of which is reproduced here for the first time in a national newspaper.
Tolkien experts are already tipping The Children of Húrin - which features significant battle scenes and at least one major twist - for big budget Hollywood treatment. Takings from the Lord of the Rings trilogy box office takings to date total some £1.5bn.
Chris Crawshaw, chairman of the Tolkien Society, said: "It would probably make a very good movie, if anyone can secure the film rights.

"Tolkien saw his work as one long history of Middle Earth: from the beginning of creation to the end of the Third Age. The Children of Húrin is an early chapter in that bigger story."
The author's son Christopher, using his late father's voluminous notes, has painstakingly completed the book, left unfinished by the author when he died in 1971. The work has taken the best part of three decades, and will signify the first "new" Tolkien book since The Silmarillion was published posthumously in 1977.

"It will be interesting to see how it stands up today alongside all the Tolkien-alike literature that we've become familiar with," said David Bradley, editor of SFX magazine.

Just Finished Reading

The Last Jihad by Joel Rosenberg

The Story:

On a quiet night under a full moon outside of Denver International Airport, a motorcade carrying the President of the United States is suddenly and viciously attacked.
The weapon: a hijacked Gulfstream IV business jet, packed with thousands of pounds of fuel and explosives. A Secret Service agent takes the jet down with a Stinger missile. The President narrowly escapes with his life. But not before terrorists also strike London, Paris, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
...we thought we had won...
...we were wrong...
The CIA quickly traces the attacks back to Saddam Hussein. U.S. forces go on full alert. The President and his top national security advisors fear Iraq is preparing to seize sixty percent of the world's known oil reserves.
Drawn into the epicenter of the maelstrom are Jon Bennett—one of the savviest and stealthiest strategists on Wall Street—and his gorgeous, shrewd, but mysterious partner, Erin McCoy.
Bennett and McCoy have just secretly concluded a billion dollar deal to develop a vast and largely unknown oil field off the coast of Israel and Gaza. The President knows that if the U.S. is forced to go to war against Iraq, he'll need an airtight Arab coalition.
The key: finding a way to resolve the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. How better to do that than commandeer Bennett, McCoy and their deal, force the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the table, and nail down a peace treaty that offers a huge and unexpected bonus: oil wealth for each and every Jewish, Muslim and Christian family long scarred by war.
But something goes dreadfully wrong. A U.S. spy satellite picks up an Israeli commando operation in the Western desert of Iraq. The President receives an urgent call from the Israeli Prime Minister.
The good news: the Israelis have narrowly foiled an Iraqi Scud missile attack.
The bad news: the recovered warhead is nuclear, and Israeli intelligence is convinced Saddam has more weapons of mass destruction aimed not just at Tel Aviv but at Washington and New York as well.
The Prime Minister gives the U.S. a blunt ultimatum: melt down Baghdad within one hour, or Israel will do it herself.
The unthinkable scenario has arrived. Will the American President order a nuclear strike against Iraq to protect Israel? How can he, especially with Bennett and McCoy in Jerusalem? Then again, how can he not?

Pundit or Prophet?

I recently read a fascinating book by Joel C Rosenberg, a work of fiction called The Copper Scroll. It's actually the fourth book in the series. I was vaguely aware of his first book The Last Jihad but never read it. The guy is an interesting combination of influences. He has an inside-the-beltway background, and is an Evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish background. He also has an uncanny knack for writing things that come true. The Last Jihad opens with Muslim extremists using hijacked aircraft in a Kamikaze attack on an American city. So what you ask? He actually wrote this before 9/11. The Copper Scroll deals primarily with a search for Temple treasure supposedly buried since the destruction of the second Temple in 70 A.D. (C.E.) and the tantalizing clues contained in a scroll that was found at the Qumran site where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. This scroll was uncovered in 1956 I believe, and was unique in that it was made of copper, not papyrus or animal hide like you would expect. It took scholars 4 years to figure out how to unroll the scroll without destroying it, but once they did, they were surprised. It was unlike any other scroll they had found in that it contained clues to the location of 63 ( I believe) different caches of treasure from the Temple, ranging from gold and silver in enormous quantities to the golden utensils used in the Temple. Archaeologists and scholars have dreamed for over 40 years now about finding this treasure, and what is might portend for the future of Israel and that finding it would be the final capstone to a growing interest in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.
The book is is quite a page turner and action packed from beginning to end and covers a lot of geopolitical ground very astutely. He also has a new nonfiction book called Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future. I read the first chapter online and it picks up where his fiction leaves off, explaining what he thinks might happen and why. I'm not sure how this guy stayed under my radar for so long except that, politically, I have kind of unplugged myself lately, being pretty burned out and alienated by what has been going on in Washington lately, so the folks I used to listen to regularly, like Rush Limbaugh, I hardly ever hear anymore. I'm also totally out of touch with Christian publishing these days, and although he didn't start out with a Christian publisher, Joel Rosenberg's books are currently being put out by Tyndale (you know, the Left Behind guys). Anyway if you want a fascinating perspective on what's going on in the world, give this guy a read. I know I've got some catching up to do.