Irish Non-Fiction

Stephen Redmond was the first swimmer ever to complete the Oceans Seven, a series of grueling cross-channel swims in different parts of the world, and yethis greatest challenge has been right on his doorstep - a 44-kilometre swim …

This is book is a history of the birds of County Cork from the earliest times to the present. It provides a comprehensive account of the ecology of all species known to have occurred in the county, with an emphasis on distribution…

Growing up on the Falls Road in 1990s Belfast, Alix O'Neill has seen it all - burnt-out buses blocking the route to school, the police mistaking her father for a leading terrorist and a classmate playing hide and seek with her dad…

The story of Paddy Power's growth from a small chain of Irish bookies to the biggest gambling company in the world. Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of Paddy Power, is the largest gambling business in the world. The evide…

In June 1922, just seven months after Sinn Fein negotiators signed a compromise treaty with representatives of the British government to create the Irish Free State, Ireland collapsed into civil war. While the body count suggests …

A vivid and original account of one of Ireland's greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographerThe most important Irish poet of the postwar era, Seamus Heaney rose to prominence as his native Northern Irela…

Novelist, Sportswriter and All-Ireland minor hurling winner Tadhg Coakley ruminates on the importance of sport in his life. He reflects on the joys of sport, as player and fan, and sport’s pervasive influence, good and bad, on hum…

One hundred years after the Anglo-Irish Treaty and partition, after 30 years of Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement and Brexit, the debate on Irish unity has intensified. But what could a united Ireland look like, and what would i…

Independence Memories is a fascinating social history, from living and inherited memory, of the period surrounding Irish Independence and the Civil War. It was a time of violence, of death, of emigration, of families divided into …

Darkness into Light: A Nation’s Response tells the story of the birth of a national and international movement that, every year, brings hundreds of thousands of people together to walk and remember those who have died by suicide. …

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…

The culmination of over 25 years of study and thousands of records, THE IRISH BUTTERFLY BOOK  documents the full life cycle of every Irish butterfly from egg to adult butterfly and includes over 400 original colour photographs. Th…

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…

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…

Allen Foster returns with the gruesome tales of some of Ireland's most infamous and lesser-known murders in history - a murder miscellany, you might say. From the murder of a teacher in his schoolyard and an ambush by dancing mask…

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…

Following the Irish coast in a clockwise direction, acclaimed ecologist Richard Nairn travels by boat, on foot and sometimes by air to visit the best remaining wild places, including islands, cliffs, beaches and dunes. The result …

Beautifully illustrated series of essays on Irish Gardens and landscapes. Accompanies an exhibition at the Irish Georgian Society.

For centuries the Celts held sway in Europe. Even after their conquest by the Romans, their culture remained vigorous, ensuring that much of it endured to feed an endless fascination with Celtic history and myths, artwork and trea…

Des Lavelle was born on Valentia Island in County Kerry in 1934, surrounded by the wild Atlantic waters.Known to the world for his passion for the nearby Skellig Islands, Des has led a fascinating and varied life, but his heart fo…

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…

Find out what the gaeilgeoir means when he/she uses the Irish words for ‘nerdy’, ‘well-hung’, ‘effing and blinding’, ‘slimeball’ or ‘drop-dead-gorgeous’? It’s all there, with numerous entries under the letters C and F. Already a c…

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…

Kerri ni Dochartaigh was born in Derry at the very height of the Troubles. One parent was Catholic, the other Protestant. In the space of a year Kerri's family were forced out of two homes and when she was eleven a homemade petrol…

A study of the literary renaissance that swept Ireland from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The author brings to life that visionary age and its great characters, including W.B.Yeats, Sean O'Casey, Oscar Wilde and…

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…

Turning Points is an anthology of some of Ireland's best known and successful people describing key moments in their lives when the chips were down, and they managed to turn it all around. These are uplifting, inspiring stories fo…

True crime meets local history. This book contains 39 true historical murders in West Cork. From Clonakilty in the east to the Beara Peninsula and the Kerry border, murder is never more than a few miles away. Each crime is complet…

Sport and sporting pastimes have always been an important part of life in Cork. What is remarkable about Cork sports men and women is their success across the entire range of sporting disciplines. There can be no true criteria for…

From medieval monks to recent renaissance, From Barley to Blarney: A Whiskey Lover's Guide to Ireland includes everything you need to understand, appreciate, and mix one of the world's fastest-growing (and most delicious!) spirits…