The Best of Ireland: The Coast, the Countryside and Dublin

A history of Ireland from 1600 to 1972; an account not only of the events themselves but also the way in which those events acted upon the peoples living in Ireland to produce an 'Irish Nation'; a description of that nation's tragedy and resilience.

After the Famine examines the recovery in Irish agriculture in the wake of the disastrous potato famine of the 1840s, and presents an annual agricultural output series for Ireland from 1850 to 1914. Michael Turner’s detailed study is in three parts: he analyses the changing structure of agriculture in terms of land use and peasant occupancy; he presents estimates of the annual value of Irish output between 1850 and 1914; and he assesses Irish agricultural performance in terms of several measures of productivity. These analyses are placed in the context of British and European agricultural development, and suggest that, contrary to prevailing orthodoxies, landlords rather than tenants were the main beneficiaries in the period leading up to the land reforms. After the Famine is an important contribution to an extremely controversial area of Irish social and economic history.

Ireland entered the twentieth century savaged by poverty and memories of the famine but inspired by the Celtic Dawn, a remarkable cultural renaissance led by Yeats, Synge and Lady Gregory. She left it in the era of the Celtic Tiger, with unparalleled prosperity and a new, confident, outward-looking view of herself and the world - although this prosperity and self-confidence is now giving way to uncertainty. In the intervening hundred years, Ireland has experienced more 'history' than almost any other country: beginning under the British crown, she was racked by revolution, the Anglo-Irish war, partition and civil conflict. Led by towering figures such as Michael Collins and De Valera, she has suffered terrible hardships and disputes but has nevertheless provided brilliant cultural and literary examples and is now a country of importance in the wider international community, providing leadership in a variety of moral and development issues. In this readable and authoritative study, Ireland's bestselling popular historian tells the extraordinary story of how contemporary Ireland came into existence. Covering both South and North and dealing with social and cultural history as well as political, this will surely become a definitive single-volume account of the making of modern Ireland.

Since its first publication in 1970, this classic Guide has introduced countless thousands to the archaeological riches with which the Irish landscape is endowed. Detailed plans and reference maps, reconstructions and illustrations enliven the text, which describes all the monuments in close detail. A comprehensive introduction places these monuments within the context of Irish history. The author's unparalleled knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, his subject have ensured that this Guide is an indispensable companion for everyone travelling through Ireland who wishes to appreciate the riches of its ancient building heritage.

Lyrical reminiscences of growing up Irish, recounted with both wistfulness and wit by a postmistress from Innishannon. Raised on a farm by a quick-tempered father and a cheerfully indulgent mother, Taylor and her six siblings enjoyed a childhood of boundless freedom as the family worked together sowing their fields, nourished themselves with their own crops and livestock, walked miles across verdant hills to and from their two-room schoolhouse, and rode their wagon to Mass in town on Sundays. As befits one whose early years were spent in such close proximity to nature, Taylor's eye is refreshingly unsentimental as she recounts local legends featuring neighbors she knew from birth, including a crone-like skinflint who hoarded her tea cake from hungry callers while allowing the beloved birds in her cottage's thatched roof practically to bring the house down; a bachelor farmer who dressed only in long johns and a long white beard; the dutiful priests who performed Mass in each house in turn, no matter how mean or eccentric its inhabitants; and the schoolteachers who punctuated monotonous sessions of rote memorization with sharp slaps on their pupils' knuckles. Informed with an earthy, childlike sensuality, these stories evoke a time when family life consisted of a procession of joyful celebrations, when neighbors tended to one another's needs as a matter of course, and when nature was a benevolent presence, intimately connected with every soul. A best-seller in Ireland, this slim collection should find a modest niche among country-loving American readers as well. (Kirkus Reviews)

This attractive one-volume survey tells the story of Ireland from earliest times to the present. The text is complemented by 200 illustrations, including maps, photographs and diagrams. Sean Duffy, the general editor of the bestselling Atlas of Irish History , has written a text of exceptional clarity. Duffy stresses the enduring themes of his story: the long cultural continuity; the central importance of Ireland's relationships with Britain and mainland Europe; and the intractability of the ethnic and national divisions in modern Ulster.