Irish Non-Fiction

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…

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 …

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…

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…

Proverbs in Irish grants the reader a look into the vast and rich world of aphoristic Irish folk-wisdom, as vibrant today as they were then. Chosen on the basis of relevance in the modern context, universality, frequency of usage,…

As every sportsperson knows, the dream can't go on forever. After years of dedication, sacrifice and single-minded obsession to get to the top, one day it all has to end. When the World Stops Watching tells the real inside stories…

Discover the fascinating world of Ireland's diverse and astonishing collection of native wildflowers. This new edition reflects the many changes to our botanical knowledge since The Wildflowers of Ireland was first published in 20…

Lloyd George boasted that he had “murder by the throat” in a London Guildhall speech on 10 November 1920.  He had flooded Ireland with troops, Black and Tans, Auxiliaries, secret service, touts and informers.  Eighteen months late…

The Number One bestselling memoir from Ireland's former state pathologistIn 1997, Dr Marie Cassidy arrived in Dublin from Glasgow. There to discuss a possible deputy state pathologist post with Professor John Harbison, instead she…

On a sunlit evening in l882, Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke, Chief Secretary and Undersecretary for Ireland, were ambushed and stabbed to death while strolling through Phoenix Park in Dublin. The murders were carried ou…

** Available exclusively from Vibes & Scribes **   Once the envy of Europe, Ireland’s pristine environment has been butchered beyond recognition. This destruction is shockingly evident in The Gearagh, near Macroom in County Co…