Irish History

Lying at the very edge of the eighteenth-century city, behind high walls and forbidding gates, the Dublin Foundling Hospital was long viewed with horror and suspicion. Yet, following its closure, it seemed to have slipped from the…

From the founder of IrishCentral, a fascinating piece of Civil War history: Lincoln's relationship with the immigrants arriving in America to escape the Irish famine. "If you're a Lincoln fan like me, you'll love this book." -Liam…

During the Irish Civil War, events of late 1922 and early 1923 together with waves of 'dishonourable' killings created poisoned relations between Republicans and 'Free Staters' which would last for several generations. The most en…

An astonishing act of piracy, the capture of the British war ship, the Upnor changed the course of Ireland's Civil War. Flawless in its planning and execution, while Winston Churchill remarked on Irish 'genius for conspiracy', a f…

Guardians of the Peace is a political history of the Irish police force, An Garda Síochana, from its foundation at the birth of the Irish State, through the Irish Civil War, the threat of the fascist ‘Blueshirts’, the continuing c…

A compelling history of the turbulent journey to Irish independence, published for the centenary of the Partition In the aftermath of the horrors of the Irish Famine, the grim, distrustful relationship between Ireland and the rest…

War Hotels is a gripping exploration of hotels in wartime and in other times of crisis, told through the prism of now iconic hotels that were frequented by foreign correspondents, diplomats, aid workers, politicians, paramilitarie…

David Dicksinson reveals the untold story of ten Irish cities and their remarkable development before the age of industrialization. Ireland was a backward island on the periphery of Europe in 1600, but underwent profound changes i…

In this follow-up to their landmark first book, Deric Henderson and Ivan Little have gathered new stories from seventy journalists who have worked in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. These contributors write powerfully about …

Beautiful examples of this still-living craft can be found all over the island, from bustling urban centres and quiet country roads to the wild coasts of the west. Since moving into a thatched cottage several years ago, Emma Byrne…

The Number One Bestseller Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2021 When Dubliner Derek Scally goes to Christmas Eve Mass on a visit home from Berlin, he finds more memories than congregants in the church where he was once an alt…

Eamon de Valera is the most remarkable man in the history of modern Ireland. Much as Churchill personified British resistance to Hitler and de Gaulle personified the freedom of France, de Valera personified Irish independence. Fro…

A tragic death, a murder trial and a 170-year-old mystery - but what really happened? Shortly after Maria Kirwan died in a lonely inlet on Ireland's Eye, it was decided that she had drowned accidentally during a day spent with her…

A fascinating look at the lifestyle and values of ancient IrelandThousands of years ago, Celtic Ireland was a land of tribes and warriors; but a widely accepted, sophisticated and surprisingly enlightened legal system kept society…

Thirty-two inspiring speeches by women of Ireland from the nineteenth century to the present. Rallying cries for trade union action, denunciations of apartheid, calls for independence, unionism, peace and gender equality: Irish wo…

On the morning of 11 October 1921, the world’s media watched as Michael Collins, leader of the ‘Irish murder gang’, bounded through the door of 10 Downing Street. Moments later, he shook hands with the British Prime Minister. So b…

Tales of passion and romance, love on the battlefield, affairs kept secret on pain of death ... From the bride who married in a prison cell, to the leader caught in a love triangle, to the revolutionaries who did their loving on t…

From Ashbourne to Killmallock the events of the War of Independence are well known. In this book, the actual participants and eyewitnesses to events describe the planning, the action and the outcomes. Some remain controversial eve…