Irish Academic Press have also just published 'The Second World War and 
Irish Women. An Oral History', with a Forward by Diarmaid Ferriter.

Based on interviews with over thirty Irish women, this book covers their 
experiences during the Second World War years and how the war impacted on 
them in terms of their public and private roles. Themes such as class and 
income, employment, health and housing are covered, arising from the women's 
recollections and international research into women and war. The women, from 
a variety of family and social backgrounds, mainly lived and worked in 
Belfast and Dublin between 1939 and 1945, but some of them went to Britain 
to take up war work. The women's own stories are compared with contemporary 
observations from a number of sources, including the Mass-Observation diary 
of Belfast woman, Moya Woodside. Other comparisons are made with newspaper 
commentaries and the files of government and other public bodies responsible 
for shaping social policy.

Diarmaid Ferriters says in his Forward:

"This is an important book, not just because it is the first to be published 
on the impact of the war on Irish women, but because it places the 
participants centre stage. Official documents and accounts can tell us what 
happened, but the use of oral history- so expertly integrated into this 
book- can help us to understand what it felt like.

The result is an account of women during this period that is honest, 
multi-faceted and deeply absorbing, because of the combination of the 
women’s voices and an exhaustively researched wider context that sheds light 
on many themes, including health, class, motherhood and the status of women 
in the workplace. It amounts to a wonderful social history of this period, 
with all the hardships and little triumphs that went with it."

I am following Louise Ryan's example in sending this notice to the list 
because it is so difficult to get publicity for history books and I hope 
that subscribers will be interested in this one. The details for orders can 
be found on the Irish Academic Press website and IAP will also send copies 
to anyone interested in reviewing it.

In the meantime, anyone who is in Dublin on Wednesday, 13th June would be 
very welcome to join me at the Irish Writers' Centre, 19 Parnell Square 
North from 6 to 8 p.m. for a fairly informal launch.

Best wishes,
Mary



>From: Louise Ryan <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Women on Ireland Research Network <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New book announcement
>Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 12:13:00 +0100
>
>A collection of new research on the Irish suffrage movement has just
>been published by Irish Academic Press:
>Irish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens
>Edited by Louise Ryan and Margaret Ward.
>
>This book should be of interest to anyone doing research on Irish
>history, women's history, citizenship, feminist theory, but also
>includes chapters on literature, drama and visual imagery.
>
>If any one would like to order it for their libraries the ISBN is:
>9780716533931
>
>If anyone would like to review it for a journal please let me know and I
>can ask for review copies to be sent out.
>
>Apologies for naked self-publicity but books need all the publicity they
>can get these days,
>
>Regards,
>
>Louise Ryan

_________________________________________________________________
Live Earth, the legendary music event on the 7th of July 2007, don't miss it 
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