When In ROME - George Buchanan

Michael J. F. McCarthy (1863/4-1928)

Subtitled:  

The Suppressed Writings Of Michael J. F. McCarthy

From the Foreword:

"George Buchanan's study of the life of Michael J. F. McCarthy was a major undertaking of his tragically short life. ... George was a man of quiet and sober disposition, not given to ostentation or show. He was a man who never volunteered his opinions without due consideration. George was a man of Ulster, and his concerns were Ulster concerns. He was a Protestant, by which George understood not some nominal commitment to a church or dioctrinal formulation, but a heartbeat after holiness. George's faith ran deep and was taken wth great seriousness. That is why George Buchanan identified himself with a number of the smaller Protestant denominations throughout his lifetime. Such matters had to be thought about seriously, and commitments were not to be entered into lightly. And so it was with this great undertaking, a study of the life of the controversial early twentieth century writer, Michael J. F. McCarthy.

George travelled widely, and closely researched the books, pamphlets, newspaper reports, and lesser minutiae that would help to piece together the life and labours of one of the most challenging, but also most neglected, literary figures to appear on the Irish scene during the Home Rule era.

What Michael J. F. McCarthy observed about Ireland, and the conclusions to which he was driven by these observations, provide the three great themes of this book. 

The book was written by George; the draft manuscript, the material of the book, lay contained within a series of computer discs. It fell to others to retrieve all George's research materials, together with the draft manuscript, and edit the text in such a way as to reveal the value of George's industry, and to bring into the light of day the story which it was George's burden to tell."

This book is about lawyer M. J. F. McCarthy, who authored some eighteen books on Ireland, is now available to the general reading public. Students of Irish Politics and Roman Catholicism - he was vehemently anti-clerical - will benefit from this book. Anyone with an interest in Ireland or in things Irish will find this book a very disturbing eye-opener.

One of the disturbing traits of Irish life has been the natural tendency to suppress information that would inform the world of the truth about what went on in that priest-ridden and secretive society.  This is seen currently in the utterly disgraceful pandemic of clerical child sex abuse that hits the news headlines every week in Northern Ireland.  Remember, this has been suppressed for generations, but is now very much in the public domain.  

McCarthy likens the Protestants in Ulster to the French Huguenots who were bitterly persecuted by the Catholic King Louis XIV of France in the seventeenth century.  This is gripping and compulsive reading, and highly informative.

The recommended cover price is £5.95, but any of my readers who is interested can get their copy from me for £5.00 (p&p extra; for postage and packing within the UK, please add £1). To get your copy of this limited edition publication, please email me at JEHLynch [at] gmail.com with your details so that delivery can be made as soon as possible.