An tOllamh Breandán Mac Suibhne

PHD, MA, BA

 
researcher
 

Biography

BREANDÁN MAC SUIBHNE is a historian of society and culture in modern Ireland (PhD, Carnegie Mellon, 1999). His The End of Outrage: Post-Famine Adjustment in Rural Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2017) was Irish Times Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year in 2017. The Royal Irish Academy awarded it the inaugural Michel Déon Biennial Prize for Nonfiction and it received the Donnelly Prize for Books in History and Social Science from the American Conference for Irish Studies. His other publications include two major annotated editions, viz. John Gamble's Society and Manners in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland (Field Day, 2011), a compendium of the travel-writing of a hard-living doctor, and, with David Dickson, Hugh Dorian's The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Donegal (Lilliput, 2000, 2001; University of Notre Dame Press, 2001), the most extensive lower-class account of Ireland's Great Famine. Mac Suibhne was a founding editor, with critic Seamus Deane, of Field Day Review (2005-), a journal of political and literary culture, and, with Deane, he edited two book series, Field Files and Field Day Editions. His most recent publication is Ag Cur Chun Fónaimh (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 2023), a collection of essays on the history of the development agency Údarás na Gaeltachta, co-edited with Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh.      

Mac Suibhne is currently at work on a monograph that uses biographical studies of the actual people on whom characters in Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) are based as a portal into the social and cultural history of modern Ireland. This item gives a sense of the project:
 https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-inspiration-for-fr-jack-the-wee-donegal-priest-known-to-millions-1.4230588 
And he is completing a monograph on the politics of identity and revolution in north-west Ulster, that turns on reports of a haunted house in north Donegal in 1786 that was remembered differently by Catholics and Protestants; it is the subject of a lengthy essay 'Spirit, Spectre, Shade: A True Story of an Irish Haunting; or, Troublesome Pasts in the Political Culture of North-west Ulster, 1786-1972', Field Day Review, 9, 2013, 148-211; https://www.jstor.org/stable/43053618 

He has a longstanding interest in Ireland's Great Famine; see, for example, his annotated edition, with David Dickson, of the memoir of Hugh Dorian (1834-1914),  The Outer Edge of Ulster (Lilliput, 2000, University of Notre Dame Press, 2001); a collection of essays, co-edited with Enda Dealney, Ireland's Great Famine and Popular Politics (Routledge, 2015); and a pamphlet Subjects Lacking Words? The Grey Zone of Ireland's Great Famine  (Quinnipiac University and Cork University Press, 2017) . An excerpt from the last item can be read here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/disturbing-remains-a-story-of-black-47-1.3365683

At the University of Galway, Mac Suibhne, with Daniel Carey, English, and Cillian Joy, Library, is leading a team developing an online database that will facilitate access to Kerby A. Miller's vast collection of transcripts of Irish emigrant letters and memoirs: the database will be launched in March 2024. With David Dickson, Trinity College, Dublin, he leads an international team that is editing the extensive correspondence of the Moore family of Derry and Baltimore, Maryland, 1798-1846, for publication by the Irish Manuscript Commission: publication is expected in 2025.

Research Interests

Social and cultural history of modern Ireland; migration; famine.

Books

  Year Publication
(2017) The End of Outrage: Post-Famine Adjustment in Rural Ireland.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2017) The End of Outrage: Post-Famine Adjustment in Rural Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [DOI] [Details]
(2017) Subjects Lacking Words? The Grey Zone of the Great Famine.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2017) Subjects Lacking Words? The Grey Zone of the Great Famine. Hamden, CT: Quinnipiac University Press. [DOI] [Details]

Edited Books

  Year Publication
(2023) Ag Cur Chun Fónaimh: Údarás na Gaeltachta ó 1980 i Leith.
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh and Breandán Mac Suibhne (Ed.). (2023) Ag Cur Chun Fónaimh: Údarás na Gaeltachta ó 1980 i Leith Ag Cur Chun Fónaimh: Údarás na Gaeltachta ó 1980 i Leith. An Spidéal: Cló Iar-Chonnacht. [Details]
(2015) Ireland's Great Famine and Popular Politics, Routledge Studies in Modern European History.
Delaney, Enda; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (Ed.). (2015) Ireland's Great Famine and Popular Politics, Routledge Studies in Modern European History Ireland's Great Famine and Popular Politics, Routledge Studies in Modern European History. 240: Routledge. [Details]
(2011) John Gamble, Society and Manners in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland, edited with an Introduction.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (Ed.). (2011) John Gamble, Society and Manners in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland, edited with an Introduction John Gamble, Society and Manners in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland, edited with an Introduction. Dublin: Field Day. [Details]
(2001) Hugh Dorian, The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal.
Dickson, David; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (Ed.). (2001) Hugh Dorian, The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal Hugh Dorian, The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. [Details]
(2000) Hugh Dorian, The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal.
Dickson, David; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (Ed.). (2000) Hugh Dorian, The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal Hugh Dorian, The Outer Edge of Ulster: A Memoir of Social Life in Nineteenth-Century Donegal. Dublin: Lilliput. [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2023) 'Ó Mháigh-Oifigeach go Bainisteoir Réigiúnach: Cathal Mac Suibhne'
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) 'Ó Mháigh-Oifigeach go Bainisteoir Réigiúnach: Cathal Mac Suibhne' In: Ag Cur Chun Fónaimh. An Spidéal: Cló Iar-Chonnachta. [Details]
(2022) ''The Generation that Lost and the “Lost Generation”: Ardara, County Donegal, 2.50 pm, 16 June 1921 and Long After and Far Beyond''
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2022) ''The Generation that Lost and the “Lost Generation”: Ardara, County Donegal, 2.50 pm, 16 June 1921 and Long After and Far Beyond'' In: A Global Irish History of Revolution. New York: New York University Press. [Details]
(2021) ''Resolve, 7 July 1922''
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2021) ''Resolve, 7 July 1922'' In: Ireland, 1922: Independence, Partition, Civil War. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. [Details]
(2018) '‘“Men lived as if they dreaded each other”: Hugh Dorian and the Gray Zone of the Great Famine’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2018) '‘“Men lived as if they dreaded each other”: Hugh Dorian and the Gray Zone of the Great Famine’' In: Niamh O’Sullivan, ed., Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger. Hamden, CT: Quinnipiac University Press. [Details]
(2015) '‘Editors’ Introduction: “To Assert Even the Animal’s Right of Existence”’'
Delaney, Enda; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2015) '‘Editors’ Introduction: “To Assert Even the Animal’s Right of Existence”’' In: Ireland's Great Famine and Popular Politics. :1-9 New York: Routledge. [Details]
(2015) ''The End of Outrage: The Molly Maguires, the Uneven Failure of Entitlement and the Politics of post-Famine Adjustment’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2015) ''The End of Outrage: The Molly Maguires, the Uneven Failure of Entitlement and the Politics of post-Famine Adjustment’' In: Ireland's Great Famine and Popular Politics. :186-232 New York: Routledge. [Details]
(2003) '‘Politicization and Paramilitarism: Northwest and Southwest Ulster, 1796–98’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2003) '‘Politicization and Paramilitarism: Northwest and Southwest Ulster, 1796–98’' In: 1798: A Bicentennial Perspective. :243-278 Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details]
(2003) 'Mac Fadden, James'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2003) 'Mac Fadden, James' In: New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Details]
(2001) '‘The Apprentice Boys of Derry, 1778–83’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2001) '‘The Apprentice Boys of Derry, 1778–83’' In: The Sieges of Derry. :85-95 Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details]
(2001) '‘Ard an Rátha: Gnéithe de Thraidisiún na Fidléireachta’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2001) '‘Ard an Rátha: Gnéithe de Thraidisiún na Fidléireachta’' In: Pobal na Gaeltachta: A Scéal agus A Dhán. :209-221 Indreabhán: Cló Iar-Chonnachta. [Details]
(2000) '‘Whiskey, Potatoes and Paddies: Volunteering and the Construction of Irish Identity, 1778–84’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2000) '‘Whiskey, Potatoes and Paddies: Volunteering and the Construction of Irish Identity, 1778–84’' In: The Crowd in Irish History. :45-82 New York: St. Martin’s Press. [Details]
(1998) '‘Na hÓglaigh agus Tógáil na Féiniúlachta Éireannaí in Iarthuaisceart Uladh, 1778–86’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (1998) '‘Na hÓglaigh agus Tógáil na Féiniúlachta Éireannaí in Iarthuaisceart Uladh, 1778–86’' In: ‘Na hÓglaigh agus Tógáil na Féiniúlachta Éireannaí in Iarthuaisceart Uladh, 1778–86’. :7-67 Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim. [Details]
(1998) '‘Up Not Out: Why Did Northwest Ulster Not Rise in 1798?'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (1998) '‘Up Not Out: Why Did Northwest Ulster Not Rise in 1798?' In: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798: The Thomas Davis Lecture Serie. :83-100 Cork: Mercier. [Details]
(1998) 'Soggarth Aroon and Gombeen Priest: Canon James MacFadden (1842–1917) of Gaoth Dobhair and Inis Caoil’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (1998) 'Soggarth Aroon and Gombeen Priest: Canon James MacFadden (1842–1917) of Gaoth Dobhair and Inis Caoil’' In: Radical Irish Priests. :146-176 Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details]
(1995) '‘Agrarian Improvement and Social Unrest: Lord George Hill and the Gaoth Dobhair Sheep War, 1856–61’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (1995) '‘Agrarian Improvement and Social Unrest: Lord George Hill and the Gaoth Dobhair Sheep War, 1856–61’' In: Donegal: History and Society. :547-582 Dublin: Geography Publications. [Details]

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2016) '‘Frank Roney and the Fenians: Irish Republicanism in 1860s Belfast and the North of Ireland—Towards a Reappraisal’'
Miller, Kerby A.; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2016) '‘Frank Roney and the Fenians: Irish Republicanism in 1860s Belfast and the North of Ireland—Towards a Reappraisal’'. Éire-Ireland, :23-54 [DOI] [Details]
(2013) '‘Spirit, Spectre, Shade; or, A True Story of an Irish Haunting: Disturbing Pasts in North-west Ulster’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2013) '‘Spirit, Spectre, Shade; or, A True Story of an Irish Haunting: Disturbing Pasts in North-west Ulster’'. Field Day Review, 9 :148-211 [DOI] [Details]
(2012) '‘Forensics and Folklore: The Theft of Human Lard in County Clare’'
Evans, Alun; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2012) '‘Forensics and Folklore: The Theft of Human Lard in County Clare’'. History Ireland, :26-29 [DOI] [Details]
(2008) ''Afterworld: The Gothic Travels of John Gamble (1770–1831)’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2008) ''Afterworld: The Gothic Travels of John Gamble (1770–1831)’'. Field Day Review, 4 :63-107 [DOI] [Details]
(2006) '‘Da’s Boat; or, Can the Submarine Speak? A Voyage to O’Brazeel (1752) and Other Glimpses of the Irish Atlantis’'
Griffin, Michael; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2006) '‘Da’s Boat; or, Can the Submarine Speak? A Voyage to O’Brazeel (1752) and Other Glimpses of the Irish Atlantis’'. Field Day Review, 2 :115-132 [DOI] [Details]
(2005) '‘Fenians in the Frame: Photographing Irish Political Prisoners, 1865–68’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán; Martin, Amy (2005) '‘Fenians in the Frame: Photographing Irish Political Prisoners, 1865–68’'. Field Day Review, (1):100-119 [DOI] [Details]
(2005) ''Editor's Introduction [to Special Dual Issue on Irish Catholicism''
Griffin, Michael; Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2005) ''Editor's Introduction [to Special Dual Issue on Irish Catholicism''. Éire-Ireland, 40 (1-2):5-9 [DOI] [Details]

Other Journals

  Year Publication
(2020) ''A Long Way Down''
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) ''A Long Way Down'' Dublin Review of Books, . [DOI] [Details]
(2019) ''Resisting Populism''
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) ''Resisting Populism'' Dublin Review of Books, . [DOI] [Details]
(2015) '‘“Them Poor Irish Lads”’ in Pennsylvania’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2015) '‘“Them Poor Irish Lads”’ in Pennsylvania’' Dublin Review of Books, . [Details]
(2014) 'La Zone Grise, le Gros Mot, et de Nouvelles Manières de le Raconter: Quelques Histoires Récentes de la Grande Famine’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán; traduit de l'anglais par Chloé Lacoste (2014) 'La Zone Grise, le Gros Mot, et de Nouvelles Manières de le Raconter: Quelques Histoires Récentes de la Grande Famine’' Révue Française de Civilisation Britannique, 19 (2) :213-238. [DOI] [Details]
(2013) '‘The Lion and the Haunted House’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2013) '‘The Lion and the Haunted House’' Dublin Review of Books, . [Details]
(2013) '‘A Jig in the Poorhouse: Space and Story, the G-word and the Issueless Tribute’'
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2013) '‘A Jig in the Poorhouse: Space and Story, the G-word and the Issueless Tribute’' Dublin Review of Books, . [Details]

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2024) Riotous Times,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) Condy Boyle and the Riot in the Chapel in Dungloe, 1888. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Riotous Times, Forbairt na Rosann, An Clochán Liath, Tír Chonaill , 31-AUG-24 - 31-AUG-24. [Details]
(2024) Annual J. J. Curran Lecture, King's College, Wilkes Barre, PA,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) From the Potato Patch to the Mine Patch: The Irish of North-Eastern Pennsylvania, c. 1820¿1920. [Invited Lecture], Annual J. J. Curran Lecture, King's College, Wilkes Barre, PA, Wilkkes Barre, PA , 25-JAN-24 - 25-JAN-24. [Details]
(2024) Donegal 550: History and Remembrance,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) Backlt; or, The Making of a Misfit: Thomas Ainge Devyr (1805¿87), a Donegal Town Radical in Ireland, England, and the United States. [Keynote Address], Donegal 550: History and Remembrance, Donegal Town, Ireland , 24-AUG-24 - 25-AUG-24. [Details]
(2024) West Cork History Festival,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) Imirce: Building a Database of Irish Emigrant Correspondence and Memoir. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], West Cork History Festival, Skibbereen, County Cork , 09-AUG-24 - 11-AUG-24. [Details]
(2024) Launch of IMIRCE: The Kerby A. Miller Collection,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) The Collection, the Gift, the Project. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Launch of IMIRCE: The Kerby A. Miller Collection, Galway, Ireland , 07-MAR-24 - 07-MAR-24. [Details]
(2023) Architecture on the Edge,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) Standing Memorials to the Memory of Old Bony; or, Signal Stations and Some Other Structures: France and the Landscape of North Donegal. [Oral Presentation], Architecture on the Edge, Kylemore Abbey, Galway, Ireland , 24-MAR-23 - 24-MAR-23. [Details]
(2023) The Dead Body in Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Conference,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) Out of this World: A Mid-Eighteenth-Century Irish Suicide and His Afterlife. [Invited Oral Presentation], The Dead Body in Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Conference, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin , 22-SEP-23 - 22-SEP-23. [Details]
(2023) Angela Bourke: A Celebration,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) Just Another Country? The Death of Singers and Songs and Something like A Fairytale of Glenties¿. [Oral Presentation], Angela Bourke: A Celebration, Newman House, Dublin , 13-DEC-23 - 13-DEC-23. [Details]
(2023) The Moore Letters, 1798¿1846,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) Before the Fall/ Robert Moore (1752-1807). [Conference Organising Committee Member], The Moore Letters, 1798¿1846, Trinity College, Dublin , 10-MAY-23 - 10-MAY-23. [Details]
(2022) Bicentennial Meeting of Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society,
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2022) What has happened to this house? Brian Friel and his Mother's People. [Plenary Lecture], Bicentennial Meeting of Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, Belfast / online due to Covid , 06-APR-22. [Details]
(2020) Long Nineteenth-Century Seminar, Oxford University,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) “Men Lived as if They Dreaded Each Other”: Hugh Dorian (1834–1914) and the Grey Zone of Ireland’s Great Famine. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Long Nineteenth-Century Seminar, Oxford University, Oxford University , 18-NOV-20. [Details]
(2020) History Ireland Hedge School,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Remembering Failure: The Memory of 1919–23 in North-west Ulster. [Invited Oral Presentation], History Ireland Hedge School, Online , 18-JUN-20. [Details]
(2020) Irish History Seminar, QUB, Belfast,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Of Men Long Forgotten and Trivial Little Stories: Problems and Potential in the Social and Cultural History of Nineteenth-Century Ireland. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Irish History Seminar, QUB, Belfast, Queen's University Belfats , 02-FEB-20. [Details]
(2019) Forgetting History: An Antidote for Excessive Commemoration?—A Symposium on Guy Beiner’s Forgetful Remembrance (Oxford, 2018), Trinity College, Dublin,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Space, Gravity and Derrymen. [Invited Oral Presentation], Forgetting History: An Antidote for Excessive Commemoration?—A Symposium on Guy Beiner’s Forgetful Remembrance (Oxford, 2018), Trinity College, Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin , 30-MAY-19. [Details]
(2019) Creative Ireland, Decade of Centenaries,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Our Place in a Time of Violence: The Ardara Bank Raid and the Kiltoorish Ambush, 16 June 1921|. [Invited Lecture], Creative Ireland, Decade of Centenaries, Kilclooney, Co. Donegal , 28-SEP-19. [Details]
(2019) Odd Man Out: Screening and Discussion,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) ‘“That may be true, but ...”: The Inspiration for Odd Man Out—A Consideration of a Suggestion. [Oral Presentation], Odd Man Out: Screening and Discussion, NUI Galway , 25-MAY-19. [Details]
(2019) Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Charlie McGuinness and the Raid on the Bank in Ardara, County Donegal, 16 June 1921. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Dublin , 25-APR-19. [Details]
(2019) Violence, Space and the Archives,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Mean Time: or, Two Men, a Bank and Other Stories: Post-Treaty Adjustment in Rural Irelan. [Oral Presentation], Violence, Space and the Archives, NUI Galway , 24-MAY-19. [Details]
(2019) National Library of Ireland, Chairperson's Lecture Series,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Men lived as if they dreaded each other”: Hugh Dorian (1834–1914) and the Grey Zone of the Great Famine. [Conference Organising Committee Chairperson], National Library of Ireland, Chairperson's Lecture Series, National Library of Ireland, Dublin , 22-MAY-19. [Details]
(2019) Am an Drochshaoil: The Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin Lectures on ‘the Time of the Famine’,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) 'The satiated never understand the emaciated': Social Class and the Famine: The 'True Historical Narrative' (1890) of Hugh Dorian of Derry. [Invited Lecture], Am an Drochshaoil: The Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin Lectures on ‘the Time of the Famine’, Derry , 22-FEB-19. [Details]
(2019) Annual Meeting of ICOMOS/IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) “Only Accountable for his Own Portion: The Famine and the Irish Landscape. [Plenary Lecture], Annual Meeting of ICOMOS/IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes, Botanic Gardens, Dublin , 20-JUN-19. [Details]
(2019) Inaugural Michel Déon Lecture, Paris,
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) “The greedy man thinks deeply, his eyes see far”. [Invited Lecture], Inaugural Michel Déon Lecture, Paris, Sorbonne , 10-DEC-19. [Details]

Book Review

  Year Publication
(2024) IRISH TIMES: Brian Friel: Beginnings by Kelly Matthews ¿ The making of a highly competitive playwright.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) IRISH TIMES: Brian Friel: Beginnings by Kelly Matthews ¿ The making of a highly competitive playwright. Irish Times Book Review [Details]
(2023) IRISH TIMES: Missing Waves of Emigrants.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) IRISH TIMES: Missing Waves of Emigrants. Book Review [Details]
(2021) IRISH TIMES: Agents of Influence, and Political Purgatory: Two accounts of the North.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2021) IRISH TIMES: Agents of Influence, and Political Purgatory: Two accounts of the North. Book Review [Details]
(2020) Irish Times: 'Ireland’s Empire: The long reach of the Hiberno-Catholic faith'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Irish Times: 'Ireland’s Empire: The long reach of the Hiberno-Catholic faith'. Book Review [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Irish Times: 'Hunger: The ugly truth about the world’s oldest problem'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Irish Times: 'Hunger: The ugly truth about the world’s oldest problem'. Book Review [DOI] [Details]
(2020) BBC History Magazine: Marvellous Miscellany.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) BBC History Magazine: Marvellous Miscellany. London: BBC History Magazine Book Review [Details]
(2020) IRISH TIMES: The Lives of Fifteen Tramp Writers: a romanticising of vagabonds.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2020) IRISH TIMES: The Lives of Fifteen Tramp Writers: a romanticising of vagabonds. Book Review [Details]
(2019) Irish Times: 'Children of the Troubles: a troubling picture of young lives cut short'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Irish Times: 'Children of the Troubles: a troubling picture of young lives cut short'. Dublin: Irish Times Book Review [DOI] [Details]
(2019) Irish Times: 'A Treatise on Northern Ireland: Tearing up myths about the Troubles'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2019) Irish Times: 'A Treatise on Northern Ireland: Tearing up myths about the Troubles'. Book Review [Details]
(2018) Irish Times: 'The Preacher and the Prelate: an absorbing story about a sordid episode.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2018) Irish Times: 'The Preacher and the Prelate: an absorbing story about a sordid episode. Dublin: Irish Times Book Review [Details]
(2018) Irish Times: 'When the Hangman Came to Galway review: Grisly tales of crime and punishment'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2018) Irish Times: 'When the Hangman Came to Galway review: Grisly tales of crime and punishment'. Book Review [DOI] [Details]
(2013) Dublin Review of Books: 'No Partition, No Planning, No Poverty'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2013) Dublin Review of Books: 'No Partition, No Planning, No Poverty'. Book Review [DOI] [Details]

Newspaper Articles

  Year Publication
(2023) IRISH TIMES: Those Five Brave Glenties Women: Dancing at Lughnasa's Origin Story.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2023) IRISH TIMES: Those Five Brave Glenties Women: Dancing at Lughnasa's Origin Story. Newspaper Articles [Details]
(2024) Sunday Independent: Tales of Two Emigrants.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) Sunday Independent: Tales of Two Emigrants. Dublin: Sunday Independent Newspaper Articles [Details]
(2024) IRISH TIMES: Dungloe: The Scenes of the Crimes.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2024) IRISH TIMES: Dungloe: The Scenes of the Crimes. Dublin: Irish Times Newspaper Articles [Details]
(2022) IRISH TIMES: It is 1970, and two `Yanks¿ have moved to Donegal¿s Blue Stack mountains.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2022) IRISH TIMES: It is 1970, and two `Yanks¿ have moved to Donegal¿s Blue Stack mountains. Newspaper Articles [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'Everything has changed except those things that should have changed'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'Everything has changed except those things that should have changed'. Dublin: Sunday Independent Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'From the Hills of Donegal to the Cruel Streets of London'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'From the Hills of Donegal to the Cruel Streets of London'. Sunday Independent Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Irish Times: 'The inspiration for Fr Jack: The wee Donegal priest known to millions’.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Irish Times: 'The inspiration for Fr Jack: The wee Donegal priest known to millions’. Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'Remember dead Black and Tans with pity for how can it be with pride?'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'Remember dead Black and Tans with pity for how can it be with pride?'. Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'As we watched Vinny Byrne laughing, Bloody Sunday's ghosts were at work'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'As we watched Vinny Byrne laughing, Bloody Sunday's ghosts were at work'. Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'I mourn my father and miss the comforting ritual of a wake'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'I mourn my father and miss the comforting ritual of a wake'. Dublin: Sunday Independent Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) IRISH TIMES: Dialogues of the dead: Michel Déon and Ireland.
Breandán Mac Suibhne (2020) IRISH TIMES: Dialogues of the dead: Michel Déon and Ireland. Newspaper Articles [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'The Summer Brendan Behan Staycationed in Donegal'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'The Summer Brendan Behan Staycationed in Donegal'. Dublin: Sunday Independent Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2020) Sunday Independent: 'On the extraordinary memoirs of an Old IRA gunrunner and adventurer'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2020) Sunday Independent: 'On the extraordinary memoirs of an Old IRA gunrunner and adventurer'. Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2018) Irish Times: 'Disturbing remains: A Story of Black '47'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2018) Irish Times: 'Disturbing remains: A Story of Black '47'. Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]
(2017) Irish Times: 'Walking Away from the Dead: What the Famine did to Ireland'.
Mac Suibhne, Breandán (2017) Irish Times: 'Walking Away from the Dead: What the Famine did to Ireland'. Newspaper Articles [DOI] [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
2022 Research Development Scheme College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies
2022 Decade of Centenaries Bursary Royal Irish Academy
2020 Research Grant Donegal County Council
2018 Michel Déon Biennial Prize for Non-Fiction Royal Irish Academy
2018 James S. Donnelly, Sr Prize for History and Social Science American Conference for Irish Studies
2017 Irish Times Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year Irish Times
2016 Fellowship Irish American Cultural Institute and Centre for Irish Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway
2016 Fellowship Moore Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway
2016 Franklin Research Grant American Philosophical Society
2016 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship National Endowment for the Humanities
2014 Visiting Scholar Glucksman Ireland House, New York University
1993 John F. Kennedy Scholarship John F. Kennedy Fund
1992 Fulbright Scholarship Fulbright Program
1992 Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Scholarship Carnegie Mellon University
1989 National University of Ireland, Postgraduate Scholarship National University of Ireland
1989 Mansion House Prize in Irish University College Dublin

Professional Associations

  Association Function From / To
American Conference for Irish Studies Member /
Irish Economic and Social History Society Member /

Committees

  Committee Function From / To
European Journal of Food, Drink, and Society ( Editorial Advisory Board 01-JAN-20 /

Education

  Year Institution Qualification Subject
1999 Carnegie Mellon University PhD History
1994 Carnegie Mellon University MA European Social History
1989 University College Dublin BA Gaeilge; Political Science and Philosophy
1991 University College Dublin MA Irish Political Studies

Languages

  Language
Gaeilge
French
English

Reviews

  Journal Role
Field Day Review Editor
Irish Times Reviewer

Internal Collaborators

  Name Description of Collaboration
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh
co-edited a collection of essays on the history of a development agency; commissioned by the University of Galway and Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh
co-edited a collection of essays on the history of a development agency; commissioned by the University of Galway and Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Daniel Carey
Development of an online database on emigrant correspondence that facilitates access to the Kerby A. Miller collection.

External Collaborators

  Name Organisation / Institute Country Description of Collaboration
Seamus Deane University of Notre Dame U.S.A.
co-editor of a journal, Field Day Review, and several book series
David Dickson Trinity College Dublin IRELAND
Co-editing correspondence of a merchant family trading between Derry and Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1796–1846, for publication by the Irish Manuscript Commission
Michael Grffin University of Limerick IRELAND
co-authored an essay on a mid-eighteenth-century literary coterie that published an account of a trip of Hy-Brazil, the Irish Atlantis; published in Field Day Review, 2, 2006
Padhraig Higgins Mercer Community College U.S.A.
Co-editing correspondence of a merchant family trading between Derry and Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1796–1846, for publication by the Irish Manuscript Commission.
Amy Martin Mount Holyoke University U.S.A.
co-authored an essay on photographing Fenian suspects; published in Field Day Review, 1, 2005
James Patterson independent U.S.A.
Co-editing correspondence of a merchant family trading between Derry and Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1796–1846, for publication by the Irish Manuscript Commission.