He has been the voice and face of Irish political journalism on RTÉ for four decades, but John Bowman is also one of the country’s most accomplished historians. His first publication Eamon de Valera and the Ulster Question (1983), derived from his PhD research, has not been surpassed in terms of academic scholarship, while his Window and Mirror: RTÉ Television 1961–2011 was described by Professor Diarmaid Ferriter in the Irish Times as ‘a wonderful monument to public service broadcasters’. In his latest work Ireland: The Autobiography he has gathered together a collection of compelling, often amusing, and telling eyewitness accounts of Irish life since 1916. Critically acclaimed and short-listed in the Irish Book Awards in the ‘Non-Fiction Book of the Year’ category, the book includes 170 documents that capture the Ireland of 1916–2016.
