Dungloe talk on Trump by descendant of local rioter

AN eminent American historian and prolific author, with strong Rosses roots, will share his experienced insights into the ongoing contentious campaigning in the US Presidential election, when he gives a talk in Dungloe this evening.

As Donald Trump and Kamala Harris battle for the hearts and minds of Americans, Kevin Boyle will give a talk in Ionad Theampall Chróine on the impact of Trump on American politics and culture. The event is at 7.00pm and is free and open to the public.

Kevin Boyle (63) teaches at Northwestern University outside Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of several books including ‘Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age’, which won the US National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

His most recent book, ‘The Shattering: America in the 1960s’ illuminates the conflicts that shook the post-war order in the United States and that continue to divide the country today. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times and other leading publications in the States.

As his surname would suggest the author and historian has deep roots in the Rosses. His ancestor Condy Boyle (1813–1909) cut a prominent figure in Dungloe in the nineteenth century, serving as chief bailiff of the Conyngham Estate and holding an array of public offices, including process server and relief warden.

Boyle opposed the Irish National League during the land agitation of the late 1880s when he defeated the nationalist John Sweeney in a bitterly contested election to the Board of Guardians of the Glenties Union.

Mr Boyle’s talk on Trump will be followed by a talk from University of Galway historian Breandán Mac Suibhne. He will detail Condy Boyle’s career, including a series of controversial incidents that culminated in a riot in the chapel in Dungloe in December 1888 when his family was attacked for its opposition to the boycotting of Maurice Boyle, the local postmaster.

Mr Mac Suibhne is the author of The End of Outrage (Oxford, 2017), which surveys the impact of the Famine on his native Ardara.

It was Irish Times Book of the Year in 2017 and received the Royal Irish Academy’s Inaugural Michel Déon Biennial Prize for Nonfiction.

It is hoped that this evening members of the community will further illuminate the life and times of Condy Boyle for his descendant.

The event, at 7.00 pm on Saturday, August 31 is organized by the University of Galway in conjunction with Forbairt na Rosann.

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