Kenneth Griffith made a documentary of the same name twenty years ago which was suppressed by the television companies. The book was first published in 1982 and covers the 1916 Rising right through to the Civil War and is told by nine participants of those revolutionary years.

The nine veterans, seven men and two women, tell their stories with graphic detail explaining how they became involved in the struggle and the parts they played alongside Pearse, Connolly, Collins and other great figures from that era.

Tom Barry tells of his exploits with the Flying Column in Co Cork and Joseph Sweeney tells how he shot the driver of an armoured car while he was a sniper on the roof of the GPO. When reading this book you can sense the camaraderie that was felt between them and then the great sadness they felt at the death of Michael Collins.

Every one of them agree that the Civil War should never have happened and go on to tell why they joined one side or the other.

With a chapter on post-Civil War Ireland and the De Valera years, the stories of the nine are brought up to date, telling how their lives have been affected by that period of Irish history.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Curious Journey and at times I couldn't put it down. I would recommend it for anyone with an interest in Irish history.

By Bronagh Smith

Dressed for war

The colourful Uniforms of 1798-1803 is an easy read and for anyone interested in this aspect of military history is full of detail. Unlike the standing and part-time armies of the British and French the insurgents did not have a standard uniform but the author states that the majority wore their everyday clothes consisting of a grey or off-white shirt, frieze or corduroy knee-breeches and sometimes green or blue garters.

It was a mistake, I believe, to repeat in the text a myth associated with one of the standards illustrated. The black flag with a white cross with the lettering MWS did not stand for ``murder without sin'' which was a figment of British propaganda. It is more likely either ``Men of West Shelmalier'' (Patrick Comerford, Wexford Bridge speech June 1998) or ``Marksmen. Wexford, Shelmalier''(G.A. Hayes McCoy, History of Irish flags).

By Aengus O Snodaigh