A timely look at the politically provocative George Bernard Shaw

CULTURE: Judging Shaw, By Fintan O'Toole, Royal Irish Academy, €30

George Bernard Shaw may not seem an obvious candidate to have his legacy explored by the Royal Irish Academy in its handsomely illustrated ‘Judging’ series of re-evaluations of leading 20th century Irish figures, which have contained reassessments of Eamon de Valera, Seán Lemass and WT Cosgrave.

For a start, Shaw was not – conventionally – a politician, although he was a self-appointed spokesperson ...