Dr. Owen O'Shea's Avatar

Dr. Owen O'Shea

@owenoshea.bsky.social

History, politics, books and coffee, in no particular order. PhD from UCD on post-Civil War politics in Kerry. New books coming in 2025. Author, historian, researcher. More at www.owenoshea.ie

466 Followers  |  825 Following  |  133 Posts  |  Joined: 08.11.2024  |  2.0634

Latest posts by owenoshea.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Four Courts Press | The Civil War in Kerry and Beyond Histories, memories and legacies by Bridget McAuliffe, Mary McAuliffe and Owen Oโ€™Shea, editors

Pleased to announce our book is with the printers and will be published in the coming weeks

Based on the papers presented at the Kerry Civil War Conference in 2023

Supported by Kerry Library and @deptcultureirl.bsky.social

Pre-order from Four Courts Press:

www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2025/t...

12.10.2025 11:37 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Launches coming up in both Dublin and Kerry in November so stay tuned for details!

Available now from @ucdpress.bsky.social for pre-orders at www.ucdpress.ie

#books #history #politics

09.10.2025 17:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Greta Thunberg says she is being detained by Israel in cell infested with bedbugs Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

Sweden's Greta Thunberg is dehydrated, under-fed and being held in poor conditions ans subjected to intimidation by the Israelis after being illegally kidnapped in international waters - and her government is saying nothing.
As pathetic as they are spineless.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

04.10.2025 16:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 164    ๐Ÿ” 83    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 8
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I am honoured to have been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org in recognition of my contribution to historical scholarship

Very grateful to the RHS Council and looking forward to making a positive contribution to historical research with fellow historians

02.10.2025 12:20 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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"Oโ€™Sheaโ€™s adroit presentation of the text and the contextual commentaries he provides lifts it to another level."

Grateful to Mark Duncan for his generous and thoughtful review of One Man's Ireland: Memoirs of Dan Mulvihill for the Journal of the Irish Labour History Society

shorturl.at/ysRJD

30.09.2025 18:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Sorry to hear of the passing of Martin Mansergh

As vice-chair of the Advisory Group on the Decade of Centenaries he opened our Kerry Civil War Conference in 2023

An enthusiastic supporter of the conference, he contributed to it eloquently and incisively

May he rest in peace ๐Ÿ™

26.09.2025 15:42 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Inspiring evening at the Kerry Young Historian of the Year Awards hosted by the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society

Warm congratulations to Lucy Griffin on being announced as the overall winner

The future of historical research in Kerry is in safe hands

Information: www.kerryhistory.ie

25.09.2025 17:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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From Bullets To Ballots Civil War politics has defined the Irish political landscape for generations. The parties which emerged from the divisions over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 dominated elections for decades. The war ...

Coming this October from @ucdpress.bsky.social and historian and author Owen O'Shea

The first ever county-based study of Civil War politics in Ireland

How and why did the Civil War shape politics and elections in Kerry in the decade after 1923?

Pre-order now: shorturl.at/56pZE

22.09.2025 19:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Coming to a bookstore near you in October 2025โ€ฆ

From Bullets to Ballots: Politics and Electioneering in Post-Civil War Kerry, 1923โ€“33 by Owen Oโ€™Shea

๐Ÿ”— Preorder here bit.ly/From-B2B

#IrishCivilWar #CivilWarPolitics #IrishHistory #KerryHistory @owenoshea.bsky.social

12.09.2025 13:45 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Great story. Thanks for sharing. At least the roads were somewhat safer in those days!

12.09.2025 17:28 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Honoured to receive such a generous endorsement for my forthcoming book from Dr Bill Kissane of the London School of Economics who has described the work as 'a first class piece of scholarship'.

From Bullets to Ballots will be published soon by @ucdpress.bsky.social

09.09.2025 19:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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A great privilege to have attended the State Commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O'Connell at his home at Derrynane today.

A fitting tribute and celebration of a giant of a man whose politics and message are as powerful and relevant today as they ever were.

#OConnell250

06.08.2025 21:15 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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๐Ÿ“šBOOK NEWS ๐Ÿ“ข

Really thrilled to be working with the wonderful team at @ucdpress.bsky.social to publish my #PhD research on politics and electioneering in County #Kerry in the decade after the Civil War

"From Bullets to Ballots" will be published in September 2025

www.ucdpress.ie/page/catalog...

31.07.2025 18:24 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Walled in by hate: Kevin Oโ€™Higgins, his friends and enemies Published in Irish Political Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)

Very pleased to have my review of the new biography of Kevin O'Higgins published in Irish Political Studies.

'Walled in by hate: Kevin O'Higgins: His Friends and Enemies' is published by Merrion Press and is a welcome reappraisal of the controversial figure

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

31.07.2025 07:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

24.07.2025 13:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2236    ๐Ÿ” 1041    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 34    ๐Ÿ“Œ 19
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The people โ€œare wretchedly poorโ€: new data on life in Kerry from 1800 censuses Between 1851 and 1855, a total of 39,520 people emigrated from Kerry โ€“ with the intention of not returning โ€“ that is the equivalent today to the population of Tralee and Killarney combined.

In the four years after the Famine, 40,000 people emigrated from County #Kerry, according to Census data from the 1800s just published by the VRTI

Here is my analysis of some of the fascinating material in the Census reports from 1821 to 1851:

owenoshea.ie/the-people-a...

17.07.2025 13:38 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Looking forward to speaking at the Sneem Summer Festival in #Sneem #Kerry on 19 July and reflecting on the Decade of Centenaries in Kerry. What lessons can we learn from the commemoration of events over the past decade?

๐ŸŽŸ๏ธFree admission
๐Ÿ“…Saturday 19 July
โฒ๏ธ5.00pm
โ›ช๏ธOld Church

07.07.2025 14:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Chatted with Radio Kerry about some of the amazing revelations about #Kerry contained in the new #census reports from the 1800s which have been released by the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.

Will post more details in due course on my website. Listen back:

www.radiokerry.ie/podcasts/ker...

03.07.2025 14:47 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington (1877-1946)

Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington (1877-1946)

On 13 June 1912 Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, and a group of suffragettes, smashed windows in Dublin Castle to highlight the womanโ€™s right to vote cause. It was an offence for which she would spent a month in prison.

#Ireland #IrishHistory #HannaSheehySkeffington #Dublin #Suffragettes #WomensRights

13.06.2025 06:32 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 41    ๐Ÿ” 16    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

The weaponisation of a past that few can remember for modern political ends continues.

Trump suggests that Putin lost 51 million people in WW2. Quite the achievement when the Russian president was born in 1952.

13.06.2025 06:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 277    ๐Ÿ” 55    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 51    ๐Ÿ“Œ 4
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Thrilled to have been granted a Commemorations Bursary from the Royal Irish Academy for an exhibition on the early years of the Fianna Fรกil party in #Kerry to coincide with the centenary of the party's foundation in 1926.

The exhibition will be presented during the early months of 2026 across Kerry

12.06.2025 17:52 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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If your response to this video is, โ€œThatโ€™s what I voted forโ€โ€”
Fuck you. Fuck you very much.

Youโ€™re heartless.

09.06.2025 00:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 18758    ๐Ÿ” 7182    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1662    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1104
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Book review: Memoirs of Irelandโ€™s wars told from an extraordinary ordinary soldier Owen Oโ€™Shea is no stranger to the War of Independence and Civil War in Kerry. 'One Manโ€™s Ireland' is his third book on this theme

Grateful to the Irish Examiner for this very generous review of my new book on Irish revolutionary, Dan Mulvihill

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

09.06.2025 10:50 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The Kerry postal clerk suspended for having the wrong surname Rosalie Rice worked as a sorting clerk and telegraphist at Kenmare Post Office when the Civil War began. She was a member of a family which was immersed in Irish republicanism. In 1916, she sent the t...

Rosalie Riceโ€™s only sin appeared to be that she was related to Irregulars, โ€˜a circumstance which would apply to may unimpeachable Free State adherents.โ€™

The Kerry postal clerk suspended for having the wrong surname

owenoshea.ie/the-kerry-po...

27.05.2025 18:36 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The first thing Pope Leo should do is travel to #Gaza to demand an end to the Israeli genocide on behalf of Catholics and on behalf of humanity.

It would be a real statement of leadership which is so sadly lacking among so-called leaders and genocide enablers worldwide

I wish him well ๐Ÿ™ #PopeLeo

08.05.2025 19:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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#OTD in 2023 I was proud to unveil a plaque in my home town of Milltown, Co. Kerry, to honour three local civilians killed during Ireland's Civil War

Read more about their tragic deaths and how the theft of a small quantity of flour triggered cataclysmic events:

owenoshea.ie/looting-kidn...

07.05.2025 11:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
IRA leader and revolutionary, Dan Mulvihil, interviewed in 1984
YouTube video by Owen O'Shea IRA leader and revolutionary, Dan Mulvihil, interviewed in 1984

๐Ÿ”ŠA voice from the past

Recording with Dan Mulvihill, revolutionary and republican, in 1984 in which he explains how he tried to publish his memoir in the 1970s

Fifty years later that ambition is realised in my new book

www.irishacademicpress.ie/product/one-...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=caEX...

04.05.2025 11:39 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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๐ŸŽฌ6,000 years of history ...

๐ŸŽฌA stunning landscape ...

๐ŸŽฌHistoric sites ...

๐ŸŽฌSpecial places ...

๐ŸŽฌPrecious heritage ...

Join us on 26th April to view the remarkable and spectacular story of Milltown, Co Kerry on the big screen.

Register now at:
www.milltownhistoryheritage.ie

18.04.2025 18:00 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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What a tremendous honour to be invited to รras an Uachtarรกin this week to meet President Michael D Higgins and Sabina Higgins to present copies of my recent books on the history of the War of Independence and the Civil War in Kerry, including 'One Man's Ireland'

www.owenoshea.ie

18.04.2025 08:44 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Four Courts Press | The Civil War in Kerry and Beyond Histories, memories and legacies by Bridget McAuliffe, Mary McAuliffe and Owen Oโ€™Shea, editors

Later this year from Four Courts Press: papers presented at the highly-acclaimed Kerry Civil War Conference 2023

Essays from historians on the conflict in Kerry and beyond, edited by Bridget McAuliffe, @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social and @owenoshea.bsky.social

www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2025/t...

14.04.2025 12:26 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@owenoshea is following 20 prominent accounts