Showing titles in Ireland

Irish contributions to American life from corned beef and cabbage to submarines: These are just a few of the wonderful things that make America the warm-hearted, good-humored, flag-waving country that it has been for 250 years, and they all came from the grand green land of Ireland. Since Patrick Maguire stepped off the decks of Columbus’ Santa Maria ship in 1492 to drag his dinghy onto the shores of San Salvador, the Irish have had one foot in the muddy black soil and brilliant green grass of Ireland and one on the mountains and lakes and prairies of the Land of the Free.

This is the true story of an unknown American politician who played a critical role in ending centuries of conflict in Northern Ireland. Without the president's permission, and breaking every conventional rule about how to deal with terrorists, former congressman Bruce Morrison helped end a conflict that most observers thought would continue indefinitely.

Ireland has a rich folklore. Everyone knows about the fairy folk and leprechauns and many have heard of the fearsome banshee. There are also the usual ghost stories found in every old land. The stranger side of the Emerald Isle goes much deeper than that, however, with tales of phantom armies marching through the sky, sea monsters swimming in the waters around the island, and stories of strange powers and dark magic.

Antonia Fraser deals with each woman in turn with sympathy - the sympathy they deserve for having had the unenviable fate of being Henry's wife. Inevitably, there was great rivalry between them; there was jealousy too: the desperate jealousy of queens who found themselves abandoned, but also the sexual jealousy of the king who discovered himself betrayed. The story Antonia Fraser tells is romantic and cruel, funny and sad, dramatic and enthralling. This is historical biography at its best.

Prostitutes, pimps, cutpurses, murderers and bawdy houses…. What were the hellfire clubs of 18th-century Ireland? Were they really élite groups who engaged in obscene orgies, devil worship and the ritual murder of servants? These questions have intrigued virtually everyone who has visited the supposed hellfire club meeting place in the Dublin Mountains, or heard the lurid stories that are associated with it. Cutting through this veil of myth and legend, Blasphemers & Blackguards: The Irish Hellfire Clubs reveals the truth about these mysterious societies.

A brilliant and compelling account of the apprentice years of Elizabeth I. An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man’s world, passionately sexual yet – she said – a virgin, Elizabeth I was to be famed as England’s most successful ruler. This absorbing new...

The History of Britain and Ireland is an invaluable resource for families, students, and anyone seeking to learn more about the fascinating story of the England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Spanning six distinct periods of British and Irish history, this book is the best way to find out how Britain transformed with the Norman rule, fought two world wars in the 20th century, and faced new economic challenges in the 21st century.

From 1820 to 1860, nearly two million Irish migrated to the United States, mostly due to the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852. Many died crossing the ocean due to disease and dismal conditions of what became known as coffin ships. Not Forgotten is the story of love and loss, enchantment and despair, joy and sorrow. Nora Brown was smitten when she met Oliver McManus. After fathering six children with Nora, Oliver disappeared, joining the Irish Brotherhood and leaving his family behind, he never returned.

Ireland is Britain's closest neighbour - the sea crossing from Scotland measures only 12 miles. It was also its first captive in what became Britain's empire. The two nation's stories have been intertwined since Anglo-Norman invaders crossed the Irish Sea during the 12th century. These Troubled Isles tells the extraordinary history of the past century in this tumultuous relationship, from the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1922 to the present day.

The Troubles turned Northern Ireland into a ghost factory: as the manufacturing industry withered, the death business boomed. In trying to come to terms with his father’s sudden death and the attack on his harmless best friend, Titch, Jacky is forced to face the bullies who still menace a city scarred by conflict. After he himself is attacked, he flees to London to build a new life. But even in the midst of a burgeoning love affair he hears the ghosts of his past echoing, pulling him back to Belfast, crying out for retribution and justice.

In the seven decades since the darkest moments of the Second World War it seems every tenebrous corner of the conflict has been laid bare, prodded and examined from every perspective of military and social history. But there is a story that has hitherto been largely overlooked. It is a tale of quiet heroism, a story of ordinary people who fought, with enormous self-sacrifice, not with tanks and guns, but with elbow grease and determination. It is the story of the British railways...

Irish nationalist leader John Redmond left no diaries or memoirs, but was a prolific letter-writer. In John Redmond: Selected Letters and Memoranda, 1880–1918, Dermot Meleady skilfully edits Redmond’s correspondence to offer new and first-hand perspectives on key moments in Ireland’s history via the many-faceted postbag of one of its most able political figures. Spanning four decades, these letters to and from key figures such as John Dillon, William O’Brien, David Lloyd George and Herbert Asquith trace Parnell’s downfall, the reunification of the Irish Parliamentary Party, Irish ...

Historical novel based in Ireland and Spain during the period from 1640 to 1923. It tells the story of the Moore family who are part of the landed gentry while being Catholic. Follow the trials and tragedies of four generations as they navigate their way through turbulent Irish history, family and religious allegiances, while walking the fine line between sworn loyalty to the King and sympathy to growing Irish Nationalism.

The history of the chieftains is the history of Irish music, and the story of how an unlikely group of enthusiasts came together to rescue some of the world's most beautiful music from near extinction, brought it to an audience of millions, and became acclaimed stars.

Almost a century after his untimely death in 1922, this lively and insightful new assessment explores the man Michael Collins described as ‘father of us all’ and reclaims Arthur Griffith as the founder of both Sinn Féin and the Irish Free State. Since his death when President of Dáil Éireann, Griffith’s role has often been misrepresented. Too radical for some, he was not militant enough for others. His legacy belongs to no single political party today. Colum Kenny argues that efforts to ‘other’ Griffith as ‘un-Irish’ raise uncomfortable questions about Irish identity. A ...

A vivid account of the people who lived through the revolutionary period, whether as occupants of the country houses (both large and small), their servants, members of the IRA or the Free State army, or ordinary people living in the countryside caught up in the tides of war. The research is meticulous and is based on an extraordinarily wide range of sources, both published and unpublished, including compensation claims in the National Archives, witness statements given to the Bureau of Military History, and contemporary Irish and UK newspapers. One of the most valuable sources is the family...

The story of a maverick young priest from County Clare whose audacious bid to colonise much of California including the San Joaquin Valley with Irish families in the 1840s precipitated the Mexican-US War. Macnamara’s Mexican project could have led to the founding of a ‘New Ennis’, ‘New Clare’ or even ‘New Ireland’, but it was thwarted by President Polk whose forces seized California.

Sisters of the Revolutionaries focuses on the lives of Margaret and Mary Brigid Pearse, whose brothers, Patrick and Willie, were executed for their role in the Easter Rising and have been commemorated as martyrs ever since. Comparatively little is known about the two sisters, despite their considerable talents and their efforts to uphold the image of their brothers’ legacies. Margaret was an Irish language activist, politician and educator, working with Patrick in founding St Enda’s School in Dublin and taking it into her own hands following his execution. Mary Brigid was a musician and...

'I was six when my father died so my mother has been everything to me. Wherever I go I tell the world about my wonderful mother. I'm a singer today because of her encouragement. She has been the biggest influence in my life' - Daniel O'Donnell Irish singing star Daniel O'Donnell's mother, Julia...

Can this deeply divided island ever be united? Malachi O’Doherty’s ground-breaking new book explores this salient question and many more. Considering centuries of history alongside contemporary issues, he looks for answers by talking to those who know the island best: those who live there. O’Doherty speaks to politicians, journalists, writers, lawyers, sportspeople and residents of both the North and the Republic, to produce the most comprehensive picture yet of a divided nation and its uncertain future. This book asks the big political questions about the prospects of reconciliation ...