These two supplementary hard-copy volumes to the Dictionary of Irish biography, originally published in nine volumes and online in November 2009, feature over 600 articles on individuals who died from 2003 to 2010 and over 157 articles on ‘Missing persons’ (significant figures who were omitted from the 2009 publication). All of these articles have already been published online at six-monthly intervals since June 2010 and are available to subscribers at www.dib.cambridge.org. As indicated in the foreword, the selection criteria for these volumes are in essence those used in the original 2009 publication (deceased subjects who were either born in Ireland or had a noteworthy Irish career). There is also significant continuity in terms of the careers featured in these supplementary volumes, with the majority of subjects active in the fields of politics, administration, literature, religion, art, architecture, science, scholarship, medicine and law (vols 10 & 11, p. xii).

However, the editors have shown acute attunement to changes that have occurred in Irish society during the past decade; this is reflected in the increased diversity of individuals profiled in these supplementary volumes. First, in recognition of the fact that ‘activities which were valued and confer fame differ from one period to another’ (vols 10 & 11, p. xii), the volumes feature a significantly higher number of people who made important contributions in the areas of business, sport, social work, journalism, broadcasting, music, film, theatre and popular entertainment. Second, reflecting the growing participation of women in public life from the later twentieth century onwards, there is a remarkable and very welcome increase in the proportion of women profiled in these supplementary volumes (almost 20 per cent as compared with just under 10 per cent in the 2009 publication).

The editors openly acknowledge the challenges associated with writing the lives of those who are recently deceased; chief among these are issues around the ready availability of sources and the lack of time to arrive at a considered assessment of the subject's contribution and legacy. However, these obstacles are, they believe, mitigated to some degree by the fact that there is generally a six-year gap between the subject's death and the writing of the article; in their estimation, that timeframe allows the author some distance from which to assess the subject's career as well as time for biographical sources to become available. These sources, combined with newspaper articles, personal knowledge or information from family, friends and colleagues, are regarded as sufficient for writing substantial biographical profiles. In the foreword, the editors reiterate the Dictionary of Irish biography’s commitment to presenting current biographical scholarship in a form that is accessible to a wide readership, and to the ongoing creation of ‘an ever more varied and comprehensive account of the men and women who have helped shape Ireland and the wider world’ (vols 10 & 11, p. xiii).

Readers of the journal will be especially interested in articles on historians including Peter Jupp (d. 2006) (vol. 10, pp 277–9), Benignus Millett (d. 2006) (vol. 10, pp 373–4), Edith Mary Johnston-Liik (d. 2008) (vol. 11, pp 246–8), A. T. Q. Stewart (d. 2010) (vol. 11, pp 479–82), and Miriam Daly (d. 1980) (vol. 11, pp 554–6). Also relevant are Patrick Maume's profile of the Jesuit priest, Celtic scholar and historical polemicist Francis Shaw (d. 1980) (vol. 10, pp 730–3); Charles Benson's article on Mary (‘Paul’) Pollard (d. 2005), librarian at Marsh's Library and later Trinity College, Dublin (Vol. 10, pp 477–8); Linde Lunney's sympathetic profile of Mairéad Dunleavy, museum curator and expert on Irish costume and decorative arts (d. 2008) (vol. 11, pp 127–8); and Peter McQuillan's critical reflection on the scholarly contribution of Breandán Ó Buachalla (d. 2010) (vol. 11, pp 410–13).

Many of the articles provide revealing insights into major changes in modern Irish society. For instance, in profiling the life of Sheila Cloney (vol. 11, pp 67–9), protagonist in the Fethard-on-Sea boycott in the late 1950s, down to her death in 2009, successive steps towards the liberalisation and secularisation of Irish society are ably highlighted. The career of Christopher Nolan (d. 2009), writer and advocate for the disabled, is said to have reflected the growing visibility and articulacy of the disabled in late twentieth-century Ireland, and their struggle for recognition (vol. 11, p. 386). The publicity surrounding the death of music broadcaster Vincent Hanley (d. 1987) is interpreted as contributing not only to awareness of H.I.V./AIDS but also to the near hysteria that characterised most discussion of it at a time when AIDS was the most feared and stigmatised illness (vol. 11, p. 590). Nuala O'Faolain's outspokenness and identification with the figure of the neglected child is said to have resonated with the reassessment of the immediate Irish past that characterised the 1990s and 2000s (vol. 11, p. 427). The contribution of whistle-blowers in effecting change is also acknowledged. Writing about civil engineer, building company executive and anti-corruption whistle-blower James Gogarty (d. 2005), Lawrence William White concludes: his ‘allegations opened a Pandora's box of alleged corruption and cronyism, regarding the probity of the planning process, and monies received under questionable circumstances by elected politicians at local and national levels, and by appointed officials’. (vol. 10, p. 201).

All contributors to these supplementary volumes are to be commended on producing very readable, often entertaining scholarly profiles of their subjects’ lives which in the majority of cases effectively convey a sense of the individual behind the public persona. Among these Frank Callanan's profile of Dublin-born diplomat, politician and writer Conor Cruise O'Brien (d. 2008) is outstanding, effectively conveying the complexity of this controversial intellectual (vol. 11, pp 391–403). Brian Hanley's article on Dublin-born republican socialist, Tony Gregory (d. 2009) (vol. 11, p. 427) also deserves special mention for its evocative and nuanced portrayal of Gregory and his milieu. James Quinn's profiles of Belfast-born snooker player Alex (‘Hurricane’) Higgins (d. 2010) and Kerry-born rugby and Gaelic footballer, Maurice (‘Moss’) Keane (d. 2010) are exceptionally engaging: written in an elegant, lively style, both accounts feature sympathetic and finely balanced representations of these two celebrated, colourful sportsmen. Among the many amusing anecdotes sprinkled throughout the volumes, Kevin Costello describes how there was some amusement at the administration of the market for popular music in late 1980s Ireland being entrusted to a seventy-one year old former judge Séamus Anthony Henchy (d. 2009) who still called the radio the wireless (vol. 11, p. 212).

On a more serious note, several contributors are to be commended for tackling head-on controversial aspects of their subject's life/career: these include Patrick Maume's multifaceted assessment of Antrim-native Sir John Charles (‘Jack’) Hermon (d. 2008), who served as chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (1980–89) (vol. 11, pp 214–18). Linde Lunney candidly describes international aid worker, Fr Aengus Finucane's bitter sense of rejection by Concern staff and council during the mid-1990s (vol. 11, p. 152). Kevin Costello is forthright in itemising the pressures with which Séamus Henchy (d. 2009), chairman of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (I.R.T.C.), had to contend, including demands by the then minister for communications, Ray Burke, to relax licensing conditions. Costello goes on to state that ‘it would later emerge that the I.R.T.C. had been used as an innocent agent to trigger a request on behalf of Century Radio to the minister for communications for which the minister, in turn, received a corrupt payment’ (vol. 11, p. 212).

The inclusion in these volumes of profiles of Irish men and women who made their careers abroad is an important feature of the D.I.B.’s recognition of Ireland's ongoing interactions with the wider world. Among the more exotic stories is that of Kerry-native politician Bridget Wren (subsequently Jennifer ‘Mummy’ Jehanzeba-Qazi Musa) (d. 2008). We learn that having settled in Pishin, Pakistan during the late 1940s, she became an outspoken promotor of women's rights, and that her funeral in 2008 drew thousands of ‘Kalashnikov-wielding Pushtun tribesmen’, many of whom were politically and tribally allied to the Taliban whom she vehemently opposed (vol. 11, pp 375–8). Equally, the D.I.B. is enriched by including articles about figures born outside Ireland who went on to develop connections with the country: the story of journalist, abolitionist and Land Leaguer, James Redpath (d. 1891) (vol. 10, pp 717–21) is particularly revealing about Irish political ideology in its wider transatlantic context. In Patrick Maume's estimation, Redpath ‘exemplifies the complex relationship between nineteenth- and twentieth-century Irish nationalism and a wider North Atlantic radical tradition, which fitfully transcended significant differences in social, racial and religious attitudes’ (vol. 10, p. 720).

Many of the articles in these volumes conclude with incisive reflections on the contribution made by high-profile figures to Irish life. The newspaper editor Douglas Gageby (d. 2004), for example, is described as

Charles J. Haughey (d. 2006) is said to have been

The writer John McGahern (d. 2006) is characterised as ‘at once his society's celebrant and its accuser’, ‘fulfilling in brutally ironic manner Corkery's dicta that to truly express Irish life a writer must address land, nationality, and religion’ (vol. 10, p. 343). In certain instances, there is explicit acknowledgement that a comprehensive assessment of a subject's contribution has yet to be made (for example, Cardinal Cahal Daly (d. 2009), vol. 11, p. 91) and writer, critic and journalist Benedict Kiely (d. 2007), who ‘awaits comprehensive reassessment’ (vol. 11, p. 274). While it is understandable that contributors may be reluctant to offer assessments of recently deceased subjects, nevertheless offering some critical reflections on all figures and on relevant source material would make for more uniform as well as more thought-provoking treatment across the board.

Many of the articles, notably those by Patrick Maume, offer insightful and, in practical terms, helpful commentary on sources. For example, writing about Belfast-born I.R.A. activist Brendan Hughes's input into journalist Ed Moloney's book Voices from the grave: two men's war in Ireland (London, 2010), Maume presents a characteristically balanced critical reflection. In assessing the book, he emphasises the need to differentiate between Hughes's account of his personal experiences on the one hand and his suspicions and deductions on the other (vol. 11, p. 243). At the same time, he acknowledges that Voices from the grave presents irreplaceable insights into the circumstances under which Hughes was drawn into the Troubles, the bonds and suspicions that developed among republicans, and the consequences of their activism for Hughes and many others.

In his profile of another Belfast-born republican activist and paramilitary, John Joseph Kelly (d. 2007), Maume offers the helpful insight that while in Kelly's later years, especially after 1994, he gave many interviews to scholars of the Troubles, his frankest statements on the arms trial were only made (or at least published) after Charles Haughey's death (vol. 11, p. 268). In his critique of sources concerning Nuala O'Faolain, Maume warns readers that ‘like all memoirs her work should be recognised as a construct with its own elisions and emphases, rather than a transparent record’ (vol. 11, p. 427). Profiling former president of Ireland, Patrick John Hillery (d. 2008), he cautions readers to be circumspect in assessing sources, including an official biography, which presents ‘a portrait of Hillery as he liked to see himself, a cautious reformer driven by a sense of public duty, especially towards the less-well-off – a Cincinnatus called from the plough (or the doctor's surgery) to serve the republic’ (vol. 11, p. 233).

Maume's article on Belfast-born politician Gerry Fitt (d. 2005) is a fine example of the kind of critical commentary on archival and secondary sources that readers and researchers will find useful and engaging in many articles in these volumes. Having explained that Fitt did not retain private papers, Maume offers critical reflections on two biographical studies: Chris Ryder is commended for giving the best insight into the older Fitt's self-image and for being indispensable on his background and early life whereas Michael Murphy's more critical study emphasises Fitt's opportunism, ideological instability, and limited political effectiveness (vol. 10, p. 145).

Other articles, such as that about republican and administrator Kathleen Napoli MacKenna (d. 1988) carry a warning to readers regarding misleading information in contemporary sources (vol. 10, p. 681). The revelation in Linde Lunney's article on Fr Aengus Finucane (d. 2009) that following the transfer of his papers to Concern, the entire collection of several thousand items were shredded in error is a salutary warning to readers about the need for ongoing vigilance and promotion of awareness around preserving archival sources (vol. 11, p. 152).

The publication of these two supplementary D.I.B. volumes is warmly welcomed. The editors, James Quinn and James McGuire, the D.I.B. Advisory Board, project staff and team of contributors, together with Cambridge University Press and the Royal Irish Academy, are to be congratulated on their ongoing adherence to the highest standards of scholarly excellence. They are also to be commended for their dynamic, progressive vision for this monumental project which has given rise to these two volumes which reflect a rapidly changing, ever more diverse Ireland and which will be of enduring value to scholars and members of the public for generations to come.