Illustrated story of Easter Week
A Walk Through Rebel Dublin
By Mick O'Farrell
Published by Mercier Press
Price £7.99
With the combination of the Dublin `building boom' and the
much-touted `Celtic Tiger', I was surprised to see the majority of
the buildings and landmarks occupied and central to the 1916 Rising
still standing in various parts of Dublin in more or less their
original state.
In Mick O'Farrell's A Walk Through Rebel Dublin 1916, the author
takes us through 30 sites around Dublin city where the Volunteers of
Easter Week made their stand.
It is a well researched and comprehensive work, with a detailed
transcript of the history and uses of each building, the
personalities, and events associated with them.
Little-known and rarely seen photos of the sites during the period
are presented alongside pictures of the sites in their present state
and surroundings.
The author, while maybe not overtly republican (he talks of the
``chaos of Northern Ireland'', ``clouding'' people's views on the rising)
obviously has a fascination with the 1916 Rising, and the work he
spent five years in compiling will stand up to any other as a
reference piece and as an easily read and understood introduction to
the Rising and its personalities.
The author does admit the rising has been ``veiwed through a clouded
lens'' and this book perfectly illustrates in a real and identifiable
way the reasons and motivation for the rising. After all, he
suggests: ``Who can fail to be moved by the story of the twice daily
ceasefires in St Stephen's Green so that the park-keeper could feed
the ducks?''
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)