Old memories painstakingly preserved in the service of history

Tomás Mac Conmara’s book does not provide a comprehensive account of the War of Independence in Clare or anywhere else. What it does most effectively is capture the atmosphere of a rural guerrilla conflict that left many eye-witnesses emotionally scarred for life

History: The Time of the Tans: An Oral History of the War of Independence in Co Clare; By Tomás Mac Conmara; Mercier Press, €19.55

Tomás Mac Conmara caught the oral history bug young. At the age of eight, he began visiting a neighbour in Ballymalone who had never read a book or written more than his name but could recount great stories about the War of Independence. Ever since then, Mac Conmara has ...