Irish History Books

Far more than just a faint echo of the past, Ireland’s fairy forts are still vibrantly alive. The traditions connected to them are so powerful that, even today, people rarely interfere with Irish fairy forts or fairy trees. They a…

Discover the long and rich history of the island of Ireland, from the very earliest Mesolithic inhabitants to Vikings and Celts and the modern 21st-century nation of today. Encompassing stories of some of Ireland’s best-known cha…

In this unrepentant and revealing memoir, Dan Mulvihill, a leading figure in Irish republicanism recounts his fight for an Irish Republic over several decades and his central involvement in key events throughout the twentieth cent…

This addictive, fascinating and humorous book is an indispensable collection of Irish trivia, history and uncommon knowledge. Presented in short, digestible entries and engagingly written throughout, this revised edition contains …

Ireland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed, Ireland became 'the isle of saints and scholars' …

Sergeant Maurice McCabe never set out to be a whistleblower. When, in 2008, he complained of shoddy investigations into serious crime in County Cavan, nothing could have prepared him for what was in store. For exposing gross incom…

The dramatic round tower is a unique feature of the Irish landscape. Dating to early medieval times, over seventy now remain, scattered across the four provinces. From Wicklow’s Glendalough to Tipperary’s Rock of Cashel and from A…

On Every Tide explores both an Irish story and a chapter in world history. Irish emigrants fled a society blighted by poverty and lack of opportunity, seeking new lives in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.In d…

From every county in Ireland Bold, Brilliant & Bad draws together the stories of over 120 amazing Irish women. Marian Broderick is back to explore the histories of remarkable Irish Women in history. From creative craftswomen t…

This first collection of the photographs of TW Murphy is a collection opening a window on the years between 1909 and 1916, book-ended by the Royal visit of King George V and the terrible destruction of the Sinn Fein rising in Dubl…

This book offers a thoroughly researched and detailed account into the formation and development of Na Fianna Éireann in Cork city during a turbulent but fascinating period of Irish history. Through access to the recently discover…

Commemorating the Irish Famine: Memory and the Monument presents for the first time a visual cultural history of the 1840s Irish Famine, tracing its representation and commemoration from the 19th century up to its 150th anniversar…

When the call went out in 1917 for volunteers willing to serve both at home and on the Western Front in a newly founded Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, young women from every province of Ireland responded just as eagerly as those fr…

In the twenty-first century there are two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, and two very different heads of state represent the populations of Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively: the elected presidency of the republic…

From late 1994 to June 1997 Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left were a coalition government led by John Bruton, arguably the most left-wing government in the history of the state. Shane Kenny provides the reader with the ultimat…

Ireland during the period 1913–1923 was a nation in constant flux. Spanning a pivotal era marked by the Dublin Lockout, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the birth of the Irish Free State, Revolutionary Times captures…

On Saturday night 22 April 1916, a tense meeting in Dublin went on into the small hours to decide whether or not the Easter Rising would go ahead. Present at that meeting were Padraig Pearse, Tomas MacDonagh, Joseph Plunkett and S…

Since earliest times, humanity has adapted and harnessed natural resources to produce what is needed for daily life, developing production and manufacturing processes of varying complexity to meet different circumstances. A number…

An Irish Food Story looks at history, culture and identity in Ireland through 100 foods. From farmhouse cheese to Findus Crispy Pancakes and everything in between, Jp McMahon shows that we truly are what we eat. It’s a story about…

From the author's extensive collection given to Trinity College in 1996, 105 caricatures, political and social, have been selected that poke fun at the Irish during London's golden age of caricature. Some of them lampoon (or, occa…

In A Lethal Legacy, Fin Dwyer charts 200 years of Irish history, opening up our past as never before, by observing the grand societal changes of our times through the intimate lens of eighteen murders and the lives and communities…

The Emergency in Colour brings wartime Ireland to life in dramatic colour. Through extensive research, the photos presented here have been painstakingly hand-colourised by photographer John O’Byrne, showing what life on the island…

In Anarchy and Authority, readers follow contemporaneous accounts of Irish men and women who ventured into the Russian empire during the two long centuries of Romanov rule. Human connections, political intrigues, cultural cross-po…

When actor, playwright and comedian Seamus O’Rourke first published Standing in Gaps in 2020 it found a wide audience amongst readers in rural Ireland. With a distinct talent for seeing the absurd in the ordinary, mundane lives of…

Martin Doyle, Books Editor of The Irish Times, offers a personal, intimate history of the Troubles seen through the microcosm of a single rural parish, his own, part of both the Linen Triangle – heartland of the North’s defining i…

This new volume in the award-winning Atlas Series presents fresh perspectives on, and a nuanced understanding of, the history of the Irish Civil War (1922–3). The centenary of the Civil War has prompted wide-ranging research into …

Enlightening, entertaining and often surprising, Irish Food History: a companion takes you on an unforgettable and expert journey through Ireland's culinary past. Beginning at the end of the Ice age, before reindeer, brown bears, …

Skulls, heads, hands, height, legs, sex organs, blood, brains, stomachs, ears and corpses – discover Irish history through the prism of the body. From the brutal beheading of the 25-year-old, red-headed Clonycavan Man some 2,000 y…

In June 1940, the fall of France prompted General Charles de Gaulle to make an impassioned rallying call to his fellow citizens to fight back against the Germans. His famous radio speech, broadcast from the BBC in London, was late…

If the past is another country – what happens when we revisit it, one day a year?Carlo Gébler has done just that. Here is the story of Ireland – from the tail end of the Troubles to the Good Friday agreement, to the glory days of …