Michael Moynihan: Stuck for a superb Christmas gift? This one rewards every reader

Can I offer a suggestion?

If anyone in your house enjoys history, politics, revolution, or even takes a passing interest in the country they live in, I recommend the Atlas of the Irish Civil War from Cork University Press.

I chatted recently to one of its editors, John Borgonovo.

“The whole book is meant to be one you can dip in and out of,” he told me over a cuppa in UCC.

“It's also not necessarily designed to be read starting on page one. It's meant to help people take bits as they come, and to engage with different things that grab your fancy.

“Part of the intention of the book is to give people something they can touch and feel — whether it's pictures or songs or documents, it’s something they can touch and feel and hopefully that links things up in their own heads.

“Our intention is to make our scholarship accessible but also to come up with ways for people to engage with the history.

“Part of it is that it’s totally part of the culture here in Cork. Not just the War of Independence, obviously, but also the Civil War. It's so much part of the popular culture down here, there's real curiosity. This period in Cork is still living.” 

Now we’re coming to it. Why is that?

“I think part of it is that particular kind of Cork pride. The reason the Civil War was a big deal here is because Cork had been so prominent in the War of Independence and there was an assumption, therefore, that Cork would be the defining battle of the latter conflict.

“It ended up not being that way but Cork had a huge international reputation for leading the armed resistance to the Crown that carried over into the Civil War. The city and the county had really suffered under the British counter-insurgency and that stuff still resonated. It’s really in the popular culture of people’s collective memory, but it's also seeped into the whole culture.

“I think that's why there's still all this interest. Think how many books have been written about this period, and they still sell really well — and people come out to hear about it. A talk somewhere in a small town in Cork or a part of the city can get a couple of hundred people on a given night. That’s remarkable. That doesn’t happen in other parts of the country.

And our students are really interested. I have no shortage of students who want to focus on the War of Independence and the Civil War

Is that distance of about 100 years the sweet spot for that interest — close enough to be in the collective memory bank but distant enough for the bitterness to subside?

“I think so,” said Borgonovo.

“Even things like the coalition government would have seemed unimaginable even twenty years ago. That's moved it forward.

“People would still know what their parents’ affiliation was and where they lined up in the Civil War. That’s still part of the popular culture and people are willing to engage with it; it’s still close enough that it will gives you these kinds of insights.

“We're still getting stuff, too. One of our intentions with the book was to make sure to have photographs that hadn't appeared, for instance, that weren't generally well known.

“We're getting material from people's private archives because a lot of that was squirrelled away and it's only now that people feel safe to take it out.” 

Well, let’s get back to Cork and its most famous representative in the Civil War.

What's funny about Michael Collins, considering we have three statues to him in the city, is he wasn’t in Cork that often

“He was born in west Cork but never lived in the city as an adult. I'm not going to venture a guess as to how many times he visited Cork city, but if I had to I’d estimate he was probably here fewer than a dozen times in his life. He went to London as a kid and then was based in Dublin.

“But he had this familial connection to Cork, he had a sister who was living in the city as well as his siblings down west. Then he died here and his body was carried back to the middle of the city centre.

“So he has these big moments which are linked to Cork, like the famous meeting on the Grand Parade to campaign for the treaty.

“That meeting was also interesting in that it was the first time it became clear that there was a lot of support for the treaty in the city in a way that the IRA hadn't really appreciated.

“The other thing to say about Collins was that he was here in August 1922 because the IRA had occupied the Customs House in Cork and had been basically commandeering all tariffs and redirecting money on the customs and excise to the IRA.

“They'd raised about £100,000 in three or four weeks, so Collins was in Cork to get that money back. The day before he went to Beal na Blath, he and Emmett Dalton were walking up and down the Grand Parade, visiting all the banks in Cork to get that money back.” 

This Atlas and others in the CUP series have galvanised interest in these historical periods, as Borgonovo acknowledges.

“There’s been great praise for the Atlas series because the way that we've mobilised the public — that we've reached out and made scholarship accessible and encouraged folks to to share their scholarship.

“Anybody who wants to get in touch, who has material they think it's valuable, we can direct you towards the Cork City and County Archives and the Cork Public Museum. Remember, now you don't necessarily have to surrender photographs, you can scan them and share them.

“It’s been a great outcome — basically informing people about that period and maybe helping them better understand their own family. But part of the whole thing is that we've gotten this tremendous reception in Cork, a reception that’s unique, like a synergy.

“We love doing it as people who specialise in research, and the fact that there's a responsive audience and that people are still helping us to inform our research — that's, great, and long may it continue.” 

And long may this series continue. John Borgonovo is right to say the Atlas is designed to dip in and out of as the mood takes you — it certainly rewards the reader. Do yourself a favour and get it for someone close to you. That way you can enjoy it as well.

Atlas of the Irish Civil War New Perspectives is edited by Hélène O’Keeffe, John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, John Borgonovo, and Mike Murphy and published by Cork University Press