Read Ireland Book Review
Issue 139
Celtic Saints: Passionate Wanderers by Elizabeth Rees (Hardback; 22.00 IEP / 30.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
Throughout the Celtic world the legacy of the Celtic Saints remains visible today. Churches, place-names, carved inscriptions, healing wells and local traditions all stand as testament to those men and women who helped to establish the Christian Church. Using archaeological evidence and literary sources, the author presents the fascinating stories of some of the best known of the Celtic saints - St Patrick and St Brigit in Ireland, St David in Wales, St Columba in Scotland and St Aidan and St Cuthbert in Northumbria - as well as those of lesser-known monks and nuns, missionaries and martyrs. From St Michael's Mount, and the Kerry coast in the southwest of Ireland, through Wales with its great monastery of Llanilltud Fawr, to Iona and Lindisfarne in the north, the author traces the journeys of these early Christians, exploring the sites where they chose to live, pray and preach - dramatic headlands, sheltered valleys, forest clearings, healing springs and peaceful lakeshores. Much of this landscape still remains, especially in the remoter parts of Britain and Ireland. In exploring these sites, the Celtic saints of legend are brought vividly to life and their continuing legacy is revealed.
Chronicle of Celtic Folk Customs by Brian Day (Hardback; 12.99 IEP / 17.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is a definitive guide to the Celtic folk customs of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. It encompasses details of every folk customs throughout the year. It features current Celtic folk festivals, including dates, starting times and directions.
The Irish Ringfort by Matthew Stout (Paperback; 11.50 IEP / 15.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book examines all aspects of the Irish ringforts - their shape and size, their date and function with special attention to national distribution patterns. Reference to contemporary written sources brings to the fore the people who dwelt within ringforts and their relationship with neighbouring farmsteads and religious communities. This study focuses on the lives and material remains of people who are often neglected in historical studies - the men and women who were not the kings and saints of official history. The book presents, for the first time, the newly available all-Ireland database of ringforts compiled by the Archaeological Surveys of the Office of Public Works and Heritage Society. Nation-wide patterns are illustrated through a re-examination of earlier studies. What emerges is a consistent pattern of settlement that illuminates aspects of Early Christian society, especially the relationship between individuals of varying status and the settlement determinants of both secular and ecclesiastical establishments.
Dublin Castle: In the Life of the Irish Nation by Peter Costello (Hardback; 20.00 IEP / 27.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is a comprehensive chronicle of the history and heritage of this famous site. It recounts the social, political and human events that have shaped the Castle and its importance to the Irish people - from the arrival of the Celts and the Vikings to the Norman conquests and subsequent English invasion, right up to the present day. Studded with illustrations throughout, this insightful and fascinating book brings to life the various physical aspects of the Castle, together with the tales of heroism, adventure, tragedy and patriotism which surround its environs. This book provides not only a fascinating history, but also a guide to the Castle for the modern visitor.
Bloody Sunday in Derry: What Really Happened by Eamonn McCann (Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 13.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
On 30 January 1972 the Parachute Regiment shot dead 27 unarmed civil rights demonstrators in Derry. Fourteen men and boys died on what has come to be known as Bloody Sunday. Twenty-eight years later, in March 2000, relatives of those killed, and the survivors among the wounded, were able to attend the opening of the Saville Tribunal and hear Christopher Clarke QC, Counsel for the Tribunal, say that this time, 'the truth, the truth plain and simple', would be unearthed and laid out for all to see. At the heart of this book are fourteen pieced about those who died. Each is an account by a relative, friend, neighbour or other associate of the dead person. There is also a compelling account of the events of the day and their aftermath, and a detailed analysis of the Widgery Report, which, it concludes, was the single greatest travesty of justice arising out of the Northern Ireland turmoil of the past three decades.
Madeleine Sophie Barat: A Life by Phil Kilroy (Hardback; 25.00 IEP / 32.50 USD) [Add To Basket]
Madeleine Sophie Barat was a Founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800 and canonised in 1925. By removing the masks which hagiography and sainthood created around her, the author represents her as a religious leader, an educator and an individual of importance in the France of her times. Born in 1779 on the eve of the French Revolution, Barat was caught up in the movement to restore and recreate a society devastated by violence and war. This book tracks her development from her childhood through her leadership of a community of women devoted to education worldwide, to her death in 1865. Several profound movements in the 18th and 19th century marked her life, including the French Revolution with its consequent volatile political situations, as well as the tangled complexities of Gallicanism and Ultramontanism. This book also explores her spiritual journey, from her dark Jansenistic roots to her belief in a loving, warm and tender God, as expressed in devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Theirs Not to Do or Die … by Tony Brehony (Paperback; 6.95 IEP / 9.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This book is the story of Jimmy O'Neill, a naïve eighteen-year-old Irish boy who joined the Royal Navy on the outbreak of World War II. Like thousands of others, he was swept through the fiery holocaust, became a man and survived. Despite its background of war, this is a highly amusing tale in which the author skilfully weaves together diverse strands of historical fact and colourful fiction to produce a tapestry of bravery, terror and opportunism, laughter and tears.
Oxford Concise Companion to Irish Literature by Robert Welch (Paperback; 9.99 IEP / 13.00 USD) [Add To Basket]
This comprehensive guide spans sixteen centuries of the literature and literary culture of Ireland. From the ogham alphabet, developed in the 4th century, to world famous contemporary writers such as Seamus Heaney and Roddy Doyle, there is a wealth of information on writers and their works, movements, genres, topics, folklore, and historical, religious and cultural events. The book also includes a chronology of historical events, such as the Famine of 1845-1848, the founding of the Abbey Theatre, and the Easter Rising, that inspired many writers.
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