Book picks similar to
Biddy Early: The Wise Woman of Clare by Meda Ryan
ireland
supernatural-horror
books-behind-the-good-people
biography
Celtic Myths and Legends (Myths of the World)
Charles Squire - 1905
A comprehensive study of Celtic mythology, legend, and poetry provides background information on the Celts, Ancient Britons, and Druids, and includes the tales of such noted figures as Cuchulain, Blodeuweek, Branwen, and Fenn.
Making It Up As I Go Along
Marian Keyes - 2016
There's the pure and bounteous joy of the nail varnish museum. Not to mention the very best lies to tell if you find yourself on an Arctic cruise. She has words of advice for those fast approaching fifty. And she's here to tell you the secret secret truth about writers - well, this one anyway.You'll be wincing in recognition and scratching your head in incredulity, but like Marian herself you won't be able to stop laughing at the sheer delightful absurdity that is modern life - because each and every one of us is clearly making it up as we go along.
Fuck Yeah Menswear: Bespoke Knowledge for the Crispy Gentleman
Kevin Burrows - 2012
You’re about to begin a journey that will end in only one way—with you standing naked in an abandoned ravine watching as your old wardrobe slowly burns. Let this be your illustrated Iliad for dressing better. Don’t sleep. Read Fuck Yeah Menswear. Refer to it. Cite it in your dissertation. Owning this book sends a very clear message to your peers, coworkers, and loved ones: “I’m trill as fuck.”
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
James Webb - 2004
Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself. Born Fighting is the first book to chronicle the full journey of this remarkable cultural group, and the profound, but unrecognized, role it has played in the shaping of America. Written with the storytelling verve that has earned his works such acclaim as “captivating . . . unforgettable” (the Wall Street Journal on Lost Soliders), Scots-Irishman James Webb, Vietnam combat veteran and former Naval Secretary, traces the history of his people, beginning nearly two thousand years ago at Hadrian’s Wall, when the nation of Scotland was formed north of the Wall through armed conflict in contrast to England’s formation to the south through commerce and trade. Webb recounts the Scots’ odyssey—their clashes with the English in Scotland and then in Ulster, their retreat from one war-ravaged land to another. Through engrossing chronicles of the challenges the Scots-Irish faced, Webb vividly portrays how they developed the qualities that helped settle the American frontier and define the American character. Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music. Both a distinguished work of cultural history and a human drama that speaks straight to the heart of contemporary America, Born Fighting reintroduces America to its most powerful, patriotic, and individualistic cultural group—one too often ignored or taken for granted.
The Ancient Celts
Barry Cunliffe - 1997
For two and half thousand years the Celts have continued to fascinate all who have come into contact with them. THE ANCIENT CELTS presents an absorbing account of the tribes whose origins and identity still provoke heated debate. Exploring the archaeological reality of the Iron Age inhabitants of barbarian Europe, Professor Cunliffe traces the emergence of chiefdoms,patterns of expansion and migration, and the development of Celtic ethnicity and identity.
The Crocodile by the Door: The Story Of A House, A Farm & A Family
Selina Guinness - 2012
The Crocodile by the Door by Selina Guinness is a remarkable, compelling and moving memoir of a farm, a family and a home.When Selina Guinness and her partner Colin, both young academics, moved in with Selina's uncle Charles, an elderly bachelor, they had no idea what the coming years held for them: a crash course in farming, tense discussions with helicopter-borne property developers, human tragedy, and the challenge of dragging a quasi-feudal estate at the edge of Dublin into the twenty-first century.The Crocodile by the Door - a dazzling debut memoir that will appeal to fans of Edmund de Waal, William Fiennes and Richard Benson's The Farm - tells this remarkable story.
A Lawyer's Life
Johnnie Cochran - 2002
In that time, he has taken on dozens of groundbreaking cases and emerged as a pivotal figure in race relations in America. Cochran gained international recognition as one of America's best - and most controversial lawyers - for leading 'the Dream Team' defense of accused killer O.J. Simpson in the Trial of the Century. Many people formed their perception of Cochran based on his work in that trial. But long before the Simpson trial and since then Johnnie Cochran has been a leader in the fight for justice for all Americans. This is his story.Cochran emerged from the trial as one of the nation's leading African-American spokespersons - and he has done most of his talking through the courtroom. Abner Louima. Amadou Diallo. The racially-profiled New Jersey Turnpike Four. Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Patrick Dorismond. Cynthia Wiggins. These are the names that have dominated legal headlines - and Cochran was involved with each of them. No one who first encountered him during the Simpson trial can appreciate his impact on our world until they've read his whole story.Drawing on Cochran's most intriguing and difficult cases, A Lawyer's Life shows how he's fought his critics, won for his clients, and affected real change within the system. This is an intimate and compelling memoir of one lawyer's attempt to make us all truly equal in the eyes of the law.
Michael O'Leary: A Life In Full Flight
Alan Ruddock - 2007
He transformed Ryanair from a loss-making joke of an Irish carrier into one of the most valuable airlines in the world, and in the process he has revolutionized the very nature of commercial aviation. In this, the first biography of O'Leary, Alan Ruddock portrays the man in three dimensions and examines the business miracle - often talked about but poorly understood - that O'Leary has wrought.'Ruddock's fast-paced retelling of Ryanair's rise and rise confirms O'Leary's insistence that his success has little to do with the management maxims of business gurus and everything to do with graft and ruthless attention to detail' Observer'Probably the definitive Ryanair story ... a good read' Sunday Independent'The fullest and most accurate picture of O'Leary to date' Irish Daily Mail'Unlike previous books which simply chart the growth of the airline, this one is bound to get under O'Leary's skin because it reveals a great deal about his hugely driven character' Irish Independent'Ruddock is good on the flavour of the man, a bundle of energy whose two favourite words start with an F and an S (they aren't flower and sugar)' Irish Examiner
We Have a Good Time, Don't We?
Maeve Higgins - 2012
She then promises to stop making terrible food analogies about everything.From terrifying hen nights, malevolent dolphins and angry bakers, to runaway cats, a stalker who won't commit and the curse of over-politeness, Maeve writes with warmth and wit about what it's like to be a regular human girl. And, crucially, she finally reveals the truth about her relationship with Michael Fassbender.We Have a Good Time...Don't We? introduces a strikingly original voice that celebrates the truth of what we really feel about ourselves through these hilarious and perceptive snapshots of a life considered.
Hungry for Home
Cole Moreton - 2000
Cole Moreton tells the story of the Blaskets through the eyes of the Kearney family, who lived there for generations until 1947 when they paid a terrible price for their isolation-a young man's life. Moreton discovers a few survivors still alive within sight of the Great Blasket, but most had left Ireland for America, settling in Massachusetts. Hungry for Home is a beautifully written and gripping account of a quest for a vanished people, and the Kearneys' incredible journey into the twentieth century is "a moving, atmospheric testament to the mythic lure of home". Entertainment Weekly.
Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland
Tim Pat Coogan - 1990
Traces the life of the man who negotiated for Irish independence and describes the political background of the times.
Booking Passage: We Irish and Americans
Thomas Lynch - 2005
Part memoir, part cultural study, Booking Passage is a brilliant, often comedic guidebook for those "fellow travelers, fellow pilgrims" making their way through the complexities of their own lives and times.
Reach!: Finding Strength, Spirit, and Personal Power
Laila Ali - 2002
She has received a firestorm of media coverage, and her recent bout with Jacqui Frazier was the most highly publicized female boxing fight ever. Now, she offers her formula for physical, emotional, and mental power in a motivational memoir that delivers 15 rounds of straight-talking, hard-hitting advice. She reveals how she overcame child abuse, weight issues, isolation, and overall bad behavior by tenaciously developing a talent that she enjoyedprofessional boxing. She demonstrates how to sidestep feelings of self-pity and defeatism and achieve success in all arenas: diet, family, personal relationships, physical training, and more. Combining spiritual inspiration with practical guidance, Laila Alis program will show readers of all ages and backgrounds how to transform the demons of self-doubt into positive, winning energy.
Women In Business
David Evans - 2001
Find out how designer Paloma Picasso, cosmetics producer Anita Roddick, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey and Hanae Mori achieved their success.
Mick: The Real Michael Collins
Peter Hart - 2005
Before his death at 31, he had fought in the Easter Rising, organized the IRA and out-spied British intelligence, negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and run the first independent government in Ireland. Peter Hart’s groundbreaking biography restores humanity to this mythical figure. Drawing on previously unknown sources, delving into Collins’s pre-revolutionary past, and assessing the methods—and the costs—of his rise to power, Mick reveals a man of often ruthless ambition, more politician than soldier, whose friendships went no farther than his interests. A work as thrilling as it is authoritative.