The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People

There’s much more to Ireland than shamrocks, the potato famine, or James Joyce, as Irish writer Hegarty notes in this fresh recasting of Irish history. Irish fiction writer Hegarty emphasizes the external political and cultural forces shaping the destiny of the Emerald Isle and chips away at the usual myths by presenting a sweeping panorama that includes the first Christian communities, Columbanus’s powerful sermons, the Viking settlements, the early great documents of the new land, and the long reach of the Roman Catholic Church into Irish affairs. Significant global political and religious events influenced the country’s governance and cultural tensions, such as the Anglo-Norman conflict, the English civil war, the American and French uprisings, the two world wars, and the recent international bailout of the Irish economy. Without succumbing to a dry academic tone, Hegarty offers a finely researched and timely celebration of Ireland’s turbulent history and conservative people. (Mar.)