Hidden Galway

Fuinseog

Has anyone picked up a copy of the book by William Henry. I found it disappointingly shallow. The man is a historian and you would think he would go into a bit more depth.

he does not appear to make reference to the Claddagh Ring or Galway characters of the last two hundred years.
does anyone else feel his book is lacking?

biko

I thought this was going to be another "I'm over from Dublin and want to do touristy things away from the beaten track" threads.

red bull

I havent read the book but read an article about it in Irish Independent Weekend supplement 3/12/11 Secrets of the Tribes. While its not totaly wrong it leaves a lot to be desired. No mention of Carrowbeg House (1670 ) still occupied and the site of the planning of the murders and the property in question. Google The Bodkin Murders for a much better account of those troubled times.

Lockstep

It lacks a "Who's Who of Galway: From Nora to Knacker Dwarf"

Asmodean

Galway seems to have such a storied history, i'd love to read up on it. Can anyone recommend any good books covering it? I'm sure there are loads.

Galwayps

Fuinseog wrote: »

Has anyone picked up a copy of the book by William Henry. I found it disappointingly shallow. The man is a historian and you would think he would go into a bit more depth.

he does not appear to make reference to the Claddagh Ring or Galway characters of the last two hundred years.
does anyone else feel his book is lacking?

I think the one you are talking about is a compiliation of articles written for the Galway Independent. I got two copies of the first volume given to me as Xmas presents last year.
He does have better books though such as Galway and great war.
Anyway there are definitely 30-40 better books out there about the City

Lockstep

A Town Tormented By the Sea by John Cunningham (Lectures a module on Galway history in NUIG) is a good start.

Lapin

Peadar O'Dowd's books are usually interesting reads too.

I haven't read Hidden Galway yet but Willie Henry's Galway and The Great War is an excellent account of the effects WWI had on Galway and its people.

ladhrann

Fuinseog wrote: »

Has anyone picked up a copy of the book by William Henry. I found it disappointingly shallow. The man is a historian and you would think he would go into a bit more depth.

he does not appear to make reference to the Claddagh Ring or Galway characters of the last two hundred years.
does anyone else feel his book is lacking?

I'd agree with you there. The two standard works are "Hardiman's History of Galway" Hardiman writes in a very accessible way considering he was a 19th century antiquarian and his writing is full of enormous footnotes detailing colourful anecdotes.

John Cunninghams book is a brilliant survey of the town from where Hardiman leaves off. He gets into politics, economics, society and culture and provides a great analysis of the way the town was and how it has developed.

The trouble with many of the shorter pieces out there (and I'm not saying this of W. Henry) is that they are scantily researched or offer very little to no analysis of the place or time they are dealing with.

At the worst they deal in little more than nostalgia, and "Ara weren't the dancehalls great and making the hay on top of Clancy's elbow....etc."