*Starred Review* Here is a treasure: an assemblage of photographs from the most tragic hundred years in Ireland's history, from 1839, when the first Irish photographs were taken--just months after Daguerre invented the process--through the destitute years of the Great Hunger's aftermath (not surprisingly, there are no photographs of that disaster), to the revolution that made Ireland a modern, self-governing nation. The photographs, including those of such little-known women artists as Christine Chichester and Louisa Warenne, are haunting icons of grand wealth and grinding poverty, of war and ordinary life. As with many photographs from the time when the camera was still a somewhat threatening novelty, the most haunting images are the faces of the people who stare straight at the viewer across the pained decades. An excellent interpretive text provides context for these unforgettable pictures. Patricia Monaghan
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