Great Irish

In The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally—the bestselling, Booker Prize–winning author of Schindler’s List—combines the authority of a brilliant historian and the narrative grace of a great novelist to present a gripping account of the Irish diaspora. The nineteenth century saw Ireland lose...

It started in 1845 and lasted six years. Before it was over, more than one million men, women, and children starved to death and another million fled the country. Measured in terms of mortality, the Great Irish Potato Famine was one of the worst disasters in the 19th century-it claimed twice as many lives as the American Civil War. A perfect storm of bacterial infection, political greed, and religious intolerance sparked this catastrophe.

Inspired by one of Ireland’s most haunting ballads… The Fields of Athenry – An Gorta Mór is a sweeping Irish historical novel of love, exile, and survival during the Great Famine. Michael is an ordinary Irish husband and father whose only crime is trying to feed his starving family. For that desperate act, he is arrested and transported across the world to Australia — a land so distant it might as well be the end of the earth. In a single moment, his family is torn apart. Left behind in a country hollowed by hunger, Mary must fight to keep their child alive as Ireland collapses ...

The Great Famine which afflicted Ireland from 1845 to 1849 was one of the most catastrophic events in Europe during the 19th century. More than one-quarter of the population of Ireland died of starvation or associated disease, or were forced to emigrate...The Great Famine left a legacy of distrust and animosity between large segments of the population of Ireland and Great Britain, and this in part led to the movements which finally produced Irish independence.

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 five percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army).

With green eyes and an easy smile, Frank McCabe stole me away from the nightmares that awaited me at home. But the son of the Irish Mob would never be mine. I belonged to the Italians. And the moment my mother sold me to the head of the Italian Mafia, I became the one the people of Boston were warned about. The only person more feared than me in our city is the Irish Ghost. When I finally flee my marital prison with my sons and my sister in tow, I unwittingly run straight into the ghost of the Irishman who died in a fiery explosion years ago.

Master of new noir Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in Darkness, Take My Hand, a terrifying tale of redemption. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro’s latest client is a prominent Boston psychiatrist, running scared from a vengeful Irish mob. The...

Pocket History: The Troubles chronicles the 30 year long Irish Troubles. It begins right at the start with the first English invasion of Ireland and continues right up until present day, answering the question of what does the legacy of the troubles mean for modern day Irish and British people.

In this audiobook, you are invited on a journey back to the 1840s, to the heart of Ireland’s darkest hour. Witness the profound impact of the Great Famine, an event that reshaped not only Ireland but also the world.

One of The Wall Street Journal’s Best Mysteries of 2025 From Jess Kidd, the bestselling author of Things in Jars who “is so good it isn’t fair” (Erika Swyler, nationally bestselling author), the first in a cozy mystery series about a former nun who searches for answers in a small seaside...

Eamonn McCann’s account of what it is like to grow up a Catholic in a Northern Irish ghetto - first published in 1974 - quickly became a classic account of the feelings generated by British rule. The author was at the center of events in Derry which first brought Northern Ireland to world attention. He witnessed the gradual transformation of the civil rights movement from a mild campaign for “British Democracy” to an all-out military assault on the British state. This book describes the people involved in the war and gives an account of the springs of the "Catholic" opposition.

From the award-winning author of Five Points and City of Dreams, a breathtaking new history of the Irish immigrants who arrived in the United States during the Great Potato Famine, showing how their strivings in and beyond New York exemplify the astonishing tenacity and improbable triumph of...

In Dublin, 1918, a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love, in "Donoghue's best novel since Room" (Kirkus Reviews). In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city...

In this sweeping history, Ireland's best-known historian, Tim Pat Coogan, tackles the dark history of the Irish Famine and argues that it constituted one of the first acts of genocide. In what the Boston Globe calls "his greatest achievement", Coogan shows how the British government hid behind the smoke screen of laissez faire economics, the invocation of divine providence, and a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign, allowing more than a million people to die agonizing deaths and driving a further million into emigration.

July, 1846, Achill Island, County Mayo Ireland. Some said it was the groaning of the wind. Some said it was the moaning of the pipes rising from the ring forts, great warrior chiefs rising to do battle for their daughters and sons. Soon they knew. It was not the wind. Not the pipes. Rather, it was the keening of starving women and wails of desperation wrenched from the empty guts of farmers. How could this be when the crop looked so good? Life hung in the balance; yet, right there, victorious, grew love and faith and the will to live. Refreshed Anniversary Edition 2025, Tears My Only Bread ...

From the award-winning author of Himself comes a spellbinding and “magically entertaining read” (Good Housekeeping, UK) about a lonely caregiver and a cranky hoarder with a house full of secrets that “will appeal to fans of Tana French and Sophie Hannah, as it charms and unsettles in equal...

When a kind-hearted farmer searches for the perfect companion to share life on his peaceful farm, he finds it in a spirited Irish Setter named Center. The two form an unbreakable bond, full of love, laughter, and loyalty. But when Center is injured, the farmer faces a heart-wrenching choice—putting the needs of his beloved dog above his own. This heartwarming children’s book beautifully teaches young readers the value of compassion, the strength found in selfless love, and the deep connection between humans and animals. A touching story about friendship, sacrifice, and doing what’s ...

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.

Culture and Anarchy is a series of periodical essays by Matthew Arnold, first published in Cornhill Magazine 1867-68 and collected as a book in 1869. Arnold's famous piece of writing on culture established his High Victorian cultural agenda which remained dominant in debate from the 1860s until the 1950s. According to his view advanced in the book, ‘Culture [...] is a study of perfection’.

Bloomsbury presents In Kiltumper by Niall Williams and Christine Breen, read by Niall Williams and Christine Breen. From the authors of This Is Happiness and Her Name Is Rose, a memoir of life in rural Ireland and a meditation on the power, beauty, and importance of the natural world. 35 years...