Books

Book review: This story of Dublin’s bridges buckles under pressure

A City Runs Through Them, the final book by the late Fergal Tobin, is flawed but nonetheless shows why his waspish, passionate voice will be missed

Dublin’s Samuel Beckett Bridge, which Fergal Tobin calls ‘a stunning piece of street furniture’ in his final book A City Runs Through Them

The late Fergal Tobin was outraged by what had happened to his native Dublin. “I am neither an architect nor a planner, but I am a Dubliner with eyes in my head,” he declares in this typically colourful and provocative history of the capital. “For all its faults, I have a genuine affection for my home town and wish it only to show some ambition.” Channelling the famous rallying cry of former Irish rugby captain ...