Irish Facts Vol 1

Excerpt from Irish Facts, Vol. 1: April, 1907 It is to this policy of Colonial independence that the Irish Council Bill of the Government is to lead. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

How much do you know about Ireland? There's so much to learn about the Emerald Isle that even its residents don't know. In this trivia book, you'll learn more about Ireland's history, pop culture, folklore, and so much more! In The Great Book of Ireland, you'll learn: How did Ireland get its name? Why is it known as the Emerald Isle? Who was St. Patrick really? What do leprechauns and shamrocks have to do with St. Patrick's Day? Which Irish company had a 9,000-year lease? What is Ireland's top attraction? Which movies have been filmed in Ireland? Which famous novel may have been based on an Irish myth? Which legends did the Irish believe in? And so much more! This book is packed with trivia facts about Ireland. Some of the facts you'll learn in this book are shocking, some are tragic, and others will leave you with goosebumps. But they're all interesting! Whether you're just learning about Ireland or you already think you're an expert on the state, you'll learn something you didn't know in every chapter. Your history teacher will be interesting at all of your newfound knowledge. So what are you waiting for? Get started to learn more about Ireland!

Forget the boring stuff you learned in school. Here's the REAL skinny on Irish history.

From prehistoric times to the present day this comprehensive history presents the story of Ireland in bite-size chunks. With illustrations throughout this is an attractive and practical guide to Ireland's colorful history.

Paralleling his friend Alexis de Tocqueville's visit to America, Gustave de Beaumont traveled through Ireland in the mid-1830s to observe its people and society. In Ireland, he chronicles the history of the Irish and offers up a national portrait on the eve of the Great Famine. Published to acclaim in France, Ireland remained in print there until 1914. The English edition, translated by William Cooke Taylor and published in 1839, was not reprinted. In a devastating critique of British policy in Ireland, Beaumont questioned why a government with such enlightened institutions tolerated such oppression. He was scathing in his depiction of the ruinous state of Ireland, noting the desperation of the Catholics, the misery of repeated famines, the unfair landlord system, and the faults of the aristocracy. It was not surprising the Irish were seen as loafers, drunks, and brutes when they had been reduced to living like beasts. Yet Beaumont held out hope that British liberal reforms could heal Ireland's wounds. This rediscovered masterpiece, in a single volume for the first time, reproduces the nineteenth-century Taylor translation and includes an introduction on Beaumont and his world. This volume also presents Beaumont's impassioned preface to the 1863 French edition in which he portrays the appalling effects of the Great Famine. A classic of nineteenth-century political and social commentary, Beaumont's singular portrait offers the compelling immediacy of an eyewitness to history.

The thousand years explored in this book witnessed developments in the history of Ireland that resonate to this day. Interspersing narrative with detailed analysis of key themes, the first volume in The Cambridge History of Ireland presents the latest thinking on key aspects of the medieval Irish experience. The contributors are leading experts in their fields, and present their original interpretations in a fresh and accessible manner. New perspectives are offered on the politics, artistic culture, religious beliefs and practices, social organisation and economic activity that prevailed on the island in these centuries. At each turn the question is asked: to what extent were these developments unique to Ireland? The openness of Ireland to outside influences, and its capacity to influence the world beyond its shores, are recurring themes. Underpinning the book is a comparative, outward-looking approach that sees Ireland as an integral but exceptional component of medieval Christian Europe.

In the successful tradition of Thomas Cahill's modern-day classic, How the Irish Saved Civilization, here is an authoritative and completely engaging one-volume account of Irish history by County Limerick native, gifted storyteller, and bestselling author Malachy McCourt. Its pages are populated with figures from myth, legend, ancient history, and current events, from Cu Chulainn and Brian Boru to Oliver Cromwell, James Joyce, Lady Gregory, Gerry Adams, and Sinead O'Connor—some beloved, some controversial, but all with an undeniable influence on the course of Irish history and in turn, the history of the modern world. McCourt proves an irresistible guide on this vivid tour through the colorful and turbulent history of the Emerald Isle, from the Celtic settlements, through Viking and British occupations, modern troubles and struggle for independence. He also offers fresh insights on the country's cultural contributions to folklore, literature, art, music, and cuisine.

When we read a history we believe ourselves to be reading cold, hard, facts of the events that took place and how they occurred. But there is no real, truthful way to know the approach our historian has taken with the historical sources. This book deals with the uncertainty in writing history in the context of Irish history in particular. Regan argues in this book that the notion of elision, simply ignoring unhelpful evidence, threatens Irish history today. Regan believes that some historians have ignored unhelpful facts that perhaps do not further their point or perhaps contradict them altogether. Each chapter focuses on a period of Irish history that Regan believes to be inconsistent or incomplete in its facts. He asks the controversial questions about the period of history such as why do some historians deny or marginalise the British threat of war and re-conquest in 1922?, why do so many Irish historians describe Michael Collins as a constitutionalist or a democrat when the evidence argues otherwise? Was the Irish Civil War really fought between democrats defending the state, against dictators attempting its overthrow? Did the new state briefly experience a military-dictatorship under Collins in 1922? Thinking historically is not about learning history or accepting the past as it is presented to us it is, as Regan argues in his thought-provoking work, about developing the critical skills to interpret history for ourselves.

Take the ultimate trip around Ireland Bestselling author Christopher Winn takes us on a fascinating journey around Ireland, to discover the tales buried deep in Irish history. Packed full of myths and legends, firsts, birthplaces, inventions and adventures, this fact book visits each of the four provinces - Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connaught - and unearths the hidden gems that each county in these provinces holds. Discover where people and ideas were born, where dreams were inspired and where the unforgettable figures of Ireland's past now slumber. You'll be able to visit the holy mountain, Croagh Patrick in Country Mayo, where St Patrick is said to have driven all the snakes in Ireland into the sea. At Lismore Castle in County Waterford you will uncover the bathroom dedicated to Fred Astaire, whose sister Adele was the hugely popular Chatelaine of Lismore in the 1930s and 40s. On the winter solstice you can bathe in the sunlight that fills the burial chamber at Newgrange, County Meath - the oldest solar observatory in the world. This irresistible compendium of facts and stories will give you a captivating insight into the Irish, and the ideas and events that have shaped the individual identity of every place you visit, and will have you exclaiming again and again: 'Well, I never knew that!'