The Siege of Derry (1688-9) is the key political myth in Loyalist culture. This study looks at the Siege, reconstructing the ways in which the defence of Derry has been commemorated and interpreted over the last 300 years. Celebrated by historians, artists, poets and preachers, re-enacted in anniversary demonstrations and parades, the Siege provides a unique insight into the mixture of triumphalism and insecurity that lies behind the slogan 'No Surrender!'

The Protestant war cry of 'No Surrender!' was first used in 1689 by the Mayor of Londonderry as James II's army laid siege to the city for 105 days, during which half the city's population died. There were many acts of courage, from the heroic death of Captain Browning to the anonymous, apprentice boys who played signal roles in the defence of the city. The book examines how the Jacobites might have achieved success, and the far reaching impact of the siege as a crucial event in the second British civil war. This is a military study of one of the most iconic episodes in Irish history, based on contemporary accounts, official records of the day, and published works on the siege. With an understanding of seventeenth-century warfare, especially siegecraft, the author probes many of the myths that have grown up around the siege and sets it in its proper context. Its ramifications for the consequent history of Ireland cannot be over emphasised.

In this remarkable book, Belfast-born Derek Lundy uses the lives of three of his ancestors as a prism through which to examine what memory and the selective plundering of history has made of the truth in Northern Ireland. In Ulster the name 'Lundy' is synonymous with 'traitor'. Robert Lundy was the Protestant governor of Londonderry in 1688, just before it came under siege by the Catholic Irish army of James II. Robert Lundy ordered the city's capitulation. Crying 'No Surrender', hardline Protestants prevented it and drove him away in disgrace. William Steel Dickson's legacy is a little different. A Presbyterian minister born in the mid-eighteenth century, he preached with famous eloquence in favour of using whatever means necessary to resist the tyranny of the English. Finally there is 'Billy' Lundy, born in 1890, the embodiment of what the Ulster Protestants had become by the beginning of World War I - a tribe united in their hostility to Catholics and to the concept of a united Ireland. The lives of Robert Lundy, William Steel Dickson and Billy Lundy encapsulate many themes in the Ulster past. In telling their stories, Derek Lundy lays bare the harsh and murderous mythologies of Northern Ireland and gives us a revision of its history that seems particularly relevant in today's world.

A 2001 volume of essays about the relationship between past and present in Irish society.

Since the plantation of Ulster in the 17th century, Northern Irish people have been engaged in conflict - Catholic against Protestant, Republican against Unionist. This text explores the pivotal moments in this history.

The book examines the evolution and current significance of the parading tradition in Ireland. Since 1995, confrontations over parades have existed side by side with the Northern Ireland peace process. The most bitter of these have occurred over the Drumcree church parade at Portadown and the Relief of Derry parades. Using a range of historical and anthropological perspectives, the book traces the parading tradition from the seventeenth century to the present.

This book traces the events surrounding the 1688 siege of Londonderry by Catholic soldiers. Macrory draws on a wide range of sources to chart the origins of the conflict, and vividly recounts the siege itself, stressing throughout the 17th century roots of the problems faced by Ulster today.