Ruth Dudley Edwards - Böcker

The first, intimate portrait of the Orange Order.If there is any more controversial body of men (and, with the exception of Ruth Dudley Edwards, who has been admitted to an honorary position in her very own lodge, they are all men) in the British Isles, it is hard to think who they might be. To most outsiders, grown men parading in bowler hats, white gloves, coloured sashes or collarettes, rolled umbrellas and banners showing scenes from the Old Testament or from a war that ended three centuries ago, are anachronistic, silly and provocative; to their enemies they are triumphalist bigots; to most of their members, the lodges’ parades are a commemoration of the courage of their forefathers, a proud declaration of their belief in civil and religious freedom, a demonstration of their Britishness, a chance to catch up with old friends and a jolly day out.Ruth Dudley Edwards is an unlikely Joan of Arc for the Orangemen, but that she is; a trusted and liked sympathizer, a woman, a Catholic from southern Ireland; one who sees them as possibly rather bumptious and certainly their own worst enemy, endlessly outpaced by the nimble Republicans in terms of PR (which the Orangemen scorn to meddle with). She has written a fond but not uncritical, indeed rather exasperated, portrait of this tribe, with lashings of insider detail and revelation which no one else could hope to obtain.

She’s filleted the Foreign Office, clobbered the Cambridge colleges, jeered at the gentlemen’s clubs, burlesqued the bishops – now Ruth Dudley Edwards pillories the publishing world.Living with Rachel and contemplating marriage, Robert Amiss feels settled at last. He even has a proper job, managing The Wrangler – a right-wing, 200-year-old English magazine. Life should be sweet, but the atmosphere at the paper is poisoned by rampant egocentricity and savage ideological battles. Things are so bad that not even the appointment of Baroness Troutbeck as a columnist seems likely to bring much cheer.When the drunken deputy editor is found drowned in a bowl of punch, suspicions of foul play are brushed aside by the police. But after another death, Chief Superintendent Jim Milton takes charge of the investigation, spurred on by relentless chivvying from the baroness. Is the murderer a Conservative, enraged by the paper’s switch to New Labour? An ambitious journalist, desperate to break the promotion logjam? There is no shortage of motives and, in typical Dudley Edwards style, no shortage of laughs in this riotous farce.

Ruth Dudley Edwards’s wickedly funny series taking an irreverent look at the British Establishment continues with this burlesque in a bishopric.For many years Westonbury Cathedral has been dominated by a clique of High Church gays, so when Norm Cooper, an austere, intolerant, happy-clappy evangelist, is appointed dean, the announcement is met with shock, outrage and fear.David Elworthy, the gentle and politically innocent new bishop, is distraught at the prospect of warfare between the factions; contentious issues include the camp lady chapel and the gay memorial under construction in the deanery garden. Desperate for help, Elworthy cries on the shoulder of his old friend the redoubtable Baroness Troutbeck, who forces her unofficial troubleshooter, Robert Amiss, to move into the bishop’s palace.Amiss, Troutbeck and the cat Plutarch address themselves in their various ways to the bishop’s problems, which very soon include a clerical corpse in the cathedral. Is it suicide? Or is it murder? And who is likely to be next?

‘Devilishly funny…There are plenty of sharp political points in this beautifully written satire, guaranteed to make you laugh’ – Frances Fyfield, Mail on SundayFoolishly, the British and Irish governments have chosen the tactless and impatient Baroness Troutbeck to chair a conference on Anglo-Irish cultural sensitivities. She instantly press-gangs Robert Amiss, her young friend and reluctant accomplice, into becoming conference organizer.Not only are a truculent Orangeman, intransigent republicans, imitative loyalists, appeasing English and hypocritical Irish among the nightmarish participants whose arrival Amiss views with dread, but driving rain and security problems make things even worse. It is a conference to remember in more ways than one, for when a delegate plummets off the battlements, no one, not even the authorities, can decide whether it was by accident or design, and the warring factions accuse each other of murder.

Latest in Ruth Dudley Edwards’s hilarious crime series lampooning the British Establishment: ‘I fear it will make you laugh out loud on public transport’ Evening StandardWhen the chairperson of the prestigious Knapper-Warburton Literary Prize dies in suspicious circumstances, Robert Amiss (the token sane member of the judging panel) wastes no time in summoning Baroness 'Jack' Troutbeck to step into the breach.Speculation that a killer may be targeting the judges worries the baroness not in the slightest – it's the prospect of immersing herself in modern literature that fills her with dread. But noblesse must oblige, even when it means joining the ranks of the superciliati sitting in judgement of the literati.With the baroness at the helm, the judges resume the task of whittling away at the short-list. But the killer, too, has resumed and is whittling away at the judges one by one …

Combining over 100 beautifully crafted maps, charts and graphs with a narrative packed with facts and information, An Atlas of Irish History provides coverage of the main political, military, economic, religious and social changes that have occurred in Ireland and among the Irish abroad over the past two millennia.Ruth Dudley Edwards and Bridget Hourican use the combination of thematic narrative and visual aids to examine and illustrate issues such as:the Viking invasions of Irelandthe Irish in Britainpre- and post-famine agriculturepopulation changetwentieth-century political affiliations.This third edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to include coverage of the many changes that have occurred in Ireland and among its people overseas. Taking into consideration the main issues that have developed since 1981, and adding a number of new maps and graphs, this new edition also includes an informative and detailed section on the troubles that have been a feature of Irish life since 1969.An Atlas of Irish History is an invaluable resource for students of Irish history and politics and the general reader alike.

Combining over 100 beautifully crafted maps, charts and graphs with a narrative packed with facts and information, An Atlas of Irish History provides coverage of the main political, military, economic, religious and social changes that have occurred in Ireland and among the Irish abroad over the past two millennia.Ruth Dudley Edwards and Bridget Hourican use the combination of thematic narrative and visual aids to examine and illustrate issues such as:the Viking invasions of Irelandthe Irish in Britainpre- and post-famine agriculturepopulation changetwentieth-century political affiliations.This third edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to include coverage of the many changes that have occurred in Ireland and among its people overseas. Taking into consideration the main issues that have developed since 1981, and adding a number of new maps and graphs, this new edition also includes an informative and detailed section on the troubles that have been a feature of Irish life since 1969.An Atlas of Irish History is an invaluable resource for students of Irish history and politics and the general reader alike.

Victor Gollancz was a teacher, publisher, author and campaigner who spent his life passionately trying to make people see the truth as he saw it. If it's as a publisher that he is remembered above all, nonetheless in many ways he epitomised the social conscience of the mid-twentieth century: he founded the Left Book Club, Save Europe Now and the Campaign Against Capital Punishment. For this biography, first published in 1987, Ruth Dudley Edwards had access to all the Gollancz family and firm papers, and produced an honest, searching work which not only reveals an extraordinary man but throws light on many of the political and social events of his times.'Frequently gripping and always readable.' John Gross, Observer'Consistently enthralling and a brilliant achievement.' Hilary Rubinstein, Spectator'One of the fullest and richest portraits of a contemporary individual we have had.' Anthony Curtis, Financial Times'I would trust anyone's life to Ruth Dudley Edwards.' Terence De Vere White, Irish Times

On Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, the seven members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s military council met to proclaim an Irish Republic with themselves as the provisional government. After a week of fighting with the British army on the streets of Dublin, the Seven were arrested, court-martialled and executed.Cutting through the layers of veneration that have seen them regarded unquestioningly as heroes and martyrs by many, Ruth Dudley Edwards provides shrewd yet sensitive portraits of Ireland’s founding fathers. She explores how an incongruous group, which included a communist, visionary Catholic poets and a tobacconist, joined together to initiate an armed rebellion that changed the course of Irish history. Brilliant, thought-provoking and captivatingly told, The Seven challenges us to see past the myths and consider the true character and legacy of the Easter Rising.