Over de Auteur
Des Ekin is a historian and journalist. His book The Stolen Village was short listed for the Argosy Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year and for Book of the Decade in the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards. He lives in Dublin.
Werken van Des Ekin
The Stolen Village: A Thrilling Account of the 17th-century Raid on Ireland by the Barbary Pirates (2006) 160 exemplaren
The Last Armada: Queen Elizabeth, Juan del Águila, and Hugh O'Neill: The Story of the 100-Day Spanish Invasion (2014) 52 exemplaren
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Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- unknown
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
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Ireland - Geboorteplaats
- Co. Down, Northern Ireland, UK
- Woonplaatsen
- Dublin, Ireland
- Beroepen
- journalist
editor - Korte biografie
Des Ekin is an Assistant Editor with The Sunday World. As well as researching investigative news articles, he writes a popular column that reaches more than a million readers every weekend. He was born in County Down, Northern Ireland and spent a decade reporting on Troubles in Northern Ireland before moving to Dublin, where he now lives with his wife and three children.
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- #93,557
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Ekin’s writing style is readable and straightforward—he’s a trained journalist.
Arguably, in the genre of corsair pirates of North Africa, this book is one of the better studies on the market.
I did enjoy reading it.
I felt that Ekin is trying to make an honest and fair attempt to understand why the raid took place and who was behind it. And more importantly, how it impacted on the lives of the innocent English captives.
Ekin’s work is balanced and extensive – the story moves from southern Ireland to Morocco and Algiers, and Holland to Istanbul –, and his arguments are reasonable and considered (including the conspiracy theory view noted in the final chapter).
The author covers the motivations of the (ethnically diverse) pirates, renegade seamen, the Irish Catholic elites, the Protestant settlers in Baltimore, Ireland, the English elites, and the slave dynamics of the 17th century.
He emphasises the multicultural and multilingual nature of Algiers and seeks to capture the spirit and politics of Muslim society in North Africa (and to a lesser extent in the Ottoman metropolis of Istanbul).
His conclusions are established upon plausible arguments and he highlights the complexity of the ‘stolen village’ story.
His research is more than adequate for the task at hand. We can only feel empathy for the English settlers torn way from their homes and families.
The main characters from all sides are discussed and their personal and political histories considered. Irish and English national and local histories of the period are reviewed too. There are some very engaging accounts of individuals in this book; the author displays an ability to recreate events and to provide a human element to the narrative. The explanations of the pirate legacy in North America, and particularly New York, are fascinating to read.
I have some critical points to note concerning Ekin’s work.
While he makes a good attempt at linking the events of June 1631 CE with contemporary politics and criminal actions, I am not totally convinced that some of the language used was suitable, its rather speculative and emotive, and might be deployed in the wrong context; furthermore, the author fails to define his terminology. This leaves the book, in places, open to an ambiguous interpretation. For instance: “Islamist jihad” (p. 9); “endless jihad” (p. 10); “Islamist empire” (p. 10); “invasion” (p. 10); “ethnic cleansing” (p.10); “Islamist invasion” (p. 118).
Also, some of the language used is arguably orientalist: “curved slippers”; “the plumes” (p. 19); “crescent moon” (p. 23).
Nonetheless, I repeat myself here, I did enjoy reading this book; Ekin explores ideas and concepts freely and does not stifle debate.… (meer)