Irish Non-Fiction

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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

Award-winning producer and journalist Daire Whelan had reached the end of another busy week and couldn't shake the feeling that life was passing him by too quickly. Vowing to make a change, he decided to commit to a year of fly fi…

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…

The islands off the coast of Ireland have long been a source of fascination. Seen as repositories of an ancient Irish culture and the epitome of Irish romanticism, they have attracted generations of scholars, artists and filmmaker…

Nearly 2,000 people gave detailed statements to the Bureau of Military History between 1947 and 1957 about their role in Ireland's fight for freedom. The statements are the recollections of many of those who participated in the 19…

The perfect stocking filler for lovers of Irish Castles. A pocket-sized guide to around 140 of Ireland's most dramatic castles and strongholds, all of which are open to the public, with structures from across the whole island of I…

The perfect stocking filler for lovers of Irish Whiskey. This is an excellent introduction to the world of Irish whiskey, with descriptions of more than 100 whiskeys from the whole island of Ireland. Photographs of key locations a…

Over the course of fifteen years, John Delaney ran the Football Association of Ireland as his own personal fiefdom. He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan p…

First published in 1895, St. Multose Church Kinsale: As it was, and is, and ought to be was the work of the then rector of Kinsale, the Rev. John Lindsey Darling. It used detailed architectural drawings, sketches and photographs t…

The Coastal Atlas of Ireland is a celebration of Ireland's coastal and marine spaces. Drawing on written contributions from over 100 authors from across the island of Ireland and beyond, the Atlas takes an explicitly all-island ap…

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 …

A compelling history of life on Cork City's northside for almost a century. Originally published in 1999 and now reprinted by public demand with added historical material and photographs, this book carries the reader on a journey …

All across Ireland, thousands of people are living in apartments and houses with serious fire safety and structural defects. Some of these have made the news, many more have not. Defects: Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger…

Rosaleen McDonagh writes fearlessly about a diverse experience of being Irish. Unsettled explores racism, ableism, abuse and resistance as well as the bonds of community, family and friendship. As an Irish Traveller writing from a…

Why did the Romans never try to conquer Ireland? Why did the King of Spain give his name to an Irish county? And how did brandy change the course of Irish history? Turtle Bunbury explores unexpected corners of the past to offer an…

The blistering non-fiction debut from the author of the critically acclaimed A Girl is a Half-formed Thing 'A fearless, interrogative work that speaks so much to structural inequality and misogyny. A fierce and fascinating manifes…

On the morning of Saturday 22nd April 1978, members of an Active Service Unit of the IRA hijacked a car and crossed the countryside to the town of Lisburn. Within an hour, they had killed an off-duty policeman in front of his youn…

George Touchet, 11th Baron Audley and 1st Earl of Castlehaven was a leading English commander in the decisive Battle of Kinsale in which he was wounded. He later became one of Ireland’s largest landowners, possessing 200,000 acres…

Available for the first time in an updated, compact paperback format, this book offers a stunning photographic survey of Ireland over the last seven decades, from the 1950s to the present day. Organized decade by decade, the image…