Read Ireland Book News - Issue 10
<-- [Back To Main Menu] 1. Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist by Anthony Cronin (paperback; 9.80 Irish pounds/15 US dollars approximately) [Add To Basket]
The definitive biography of one of the key literary figures of this century. Intensely private, Samuel Beckett has been the most legendary and enigmatic of writers. This biography is a revelation of this mythical figure as fully human, fallible and, for much of his early life, confused and uncertain, while confirming his enormous stature both as a man and a writer.
2. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (paperback; 7.60 IRP/11 USD) [Add To Basket]
The best-selling memoir and winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Award of a miserable Irish Catholic childhood - a truly astonishing and mesmerising book.
3. Before the Dawn: An Autobiography by Gerry Adams (paperback; 7.60 IRP/11 USD) [Add To Basket]
Gerry Adams is widely regarded as the most controversial leader in modern Irish history, yet few know what sort of man he is. For years his voice was banned from Irish and British television, he was forbidden entry in the United States, and commentators and politicians condemned him and all he stood for. This autobiography has been called one of the most important political memoirs of recent times and is compulsory reading for anyone wishing to understand modern day Ireland.
5. Personal Views: Politics, Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland by John Hume (paperback; 9.99 IRP/15 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is John Hume's remarkable story of his personal struggle for civil rights, peace and prosperity for all the people of Ireland. Born in 1937 into a working class Catholic family in Derry, Hume presents vivid memories of his family, his youth and Catholic Nationalist community from which he later emerged as a dynamic force for reasoned political change in Northern Ireland. This book follows the development of his political philosophy. He relates the story of his first meetings with Gerry Adams that eventually led to the Downing Street Declaration and the 1994 cease-fire. With the ending of that cease-fire in 1996, Hume now addresses the party's centre-stage, as they prepare for joint talks, the success of which is crucial to a lasting peace and the development of an international Ireland.
6. The Greening of the White House by Conor O'Cleary (paperback; 8.99 IRP/13.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Conor O'Cleary's best-selling account of America's involvement in the Irish peace process. Told by the only reporter who followed it daily, its cast of characters includes Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Albert Reynolds, John Hume, Gerry Adams, Edward Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith and John Major. The author is one of Ireland's most distinguished journalists. Again, essential reading.
7. Phoenix: Policing the Shadows by Jack Holland and Susan Phoenix (paperback; 7.60 IRP/11USD) [Add To Basket]
When the Chinook helicopter slammed into the side of the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, it claimed the lives of 25 top anti-terrorist intelligence officers, among whom was Detective Superintendent Ian Phoenix. Head of the Northern Ireland police counter-surveillance unit, Phoenix had spent 25 years of his life in an undercover war against some of the most deadly terrorist organisations in the world This book reveals for the first time how the war of covert police operations was fought in an arena of snipers and doorstep assassins.
8. Help! I'm An Irish Innkeeper by Maureen Erde (paperback; 6.99 IRP/10.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This is a true story. As a child, Maureen Erde often visited her grandparents in Ireland. She returned 28 years later and the trip totally changed her life. She thought she was going on just two weeks' holiday but in no time she found herself the owner of a huge ruined house left over from 1723, a huge mortgage - and not the faintest idea what she was going to do about either. A charming and inspiring story!
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