Product Description
His work on folklife, his interest in popular and material culture, his inclusiveness and generosity of vision, his latent environmentalism, his holistic rendering of habitat, heritage, and history with its relationship of land to people, and above all the sheer quality of his prose and poetic imagery, all mark Evans as one of the outstanding figures in the field of geographical studies. This broad collection demonstrates to a new generation of readers the enduring qualities of Ireland's most distinctive, and distinguished, cultural historian. Like Lloyd Praeger, Carl Sauer, and Fernand Braudel before him, Estyn Evans (1905-1989) is one of the inspirational figures in the landscape of Irish and European studies. Lucid, witty, innovative, and holistic, these selected writings testify to his enduring relevance in the late twentieth century. ... Read more

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This memorable anthology reveals the soul of one of the oldest cultures in Europe, visiting Ireland's iridescent green hills, rural pubs, Dublin streets, hidden islands, and mossy Celtic ruins. Experience the magic of Ireland in this engaging illustrated collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great book About Ireland
This book was shipped quickly, it was in good condition, and it is a great read!

Uneven, but enough to make this anthology worthwhile
I am giving one less star than the other commentators here not out of contrariness but simply to let readers know of the very uneven quality of the 44 entries, most of which are excerpts from longer works by established writers, although a minorityappear to be written for this anthology. Not to say that the latter suffer necessarily; the best essay in here, and the only one that examines the other side of the tourist's encounter, is Janine Jones' "Tea With Mr. Curtain." Jones ponders what to do when the more unsavory side of a revered local man is revealed to apparently only her "privileged" view as a visitor. She opts for reticence rather than revealing his secret side to the rest of the village that she will soon leave but he never will.

The familiar authors mingle with the unknown, and to the editors' credit, they offset their knowingly but fulsomely lavish encomium of the oul' sod's charm prefacing this collection with a final section highlighting the shadowy scandals of an Ireland beyond the postcard views too often limiting many of the writers here included. The best sections are this last portion, for its frankness, and the beginning that in its "Essence of Ireland" does set out neatly such observant scenes as that of a kayaker, Brian Wilson, who finds his moored craft suddenly whisked away under the local Conamara customs of flotsam and jetsam belonging to those who live by the sea's bounty; Rosemary Mahoney's look (from her excellent "Whoredom in Kimmage: Irish Women Coming of Age") at how the Legion of Mary's volunteers work in inner-city Dublin; David Blaker's decision to call himself a Jew when hitching rides in the North to avoid uneasy conversations; and David W. McFadden's meeting with an amateur archeologist in the Tipperary town of Cahir. The second section is most disappointing: the contributors are either too blase or mundane about their activities, or what they report matters little to engage the imagination of the reader.

Valuable essays in part three about destinations are those of Katharine Scherman on Skellig Micheal; poitin-making by John McLaughlin; Thomas Flanagan on the real Mayo that inspired his "Year of the French" novel; and Jonathan Harrington's brief but moving tale of finding and meeting distant relatives one uncomfortable night. In the last section, Scott Anderson exposes the racketeering and an even more dangerous climate of intimidation that because of its underground impact on both sides of the sectarian divide has followed the decline in paramilitary violence; Martin Dillon gives a literally awful anecdote from his "God and the Gun" about a priest forced to hear the confession of a man the IRA is about to execute; Fintan O'Toole offers a typically nuanced examination of the Bishop Casey-Annie Murphy scandal.

The listings at the back, with succinct advice for tourists, are helpful and cogent, if by now of course dated a bit. The bibliography is well-chosen. Finally, sidebars in the text give additional observations from other texts, and these snippets are placed often to play off the longer essays in nimble fashion.

A great book!
I really enjoyed this book on Travler's tales from Ireland. It had some great stories. You really got to know about the country, and it's people from reading this. I highly recommend it.

The Sub-title says it all.
This book consists of a wide variety of stories from the humourous to the profound to the historical. There are stories that you want to sit downwith a friend and read it to them: specically, "A Pub Fairy Tale"by Pamela Ramsey tells of a visit to an Irish pub by the author who wantedto take in the "ambiance" of the music and dancing. She hopedthat she would be asked to dance, but as closing time drew near, her hopesseemed slim. Then an energetic old gentleman finally asked her, and shedescribes it this way: "I could feel the other dancers watching us,nodding, laughing, giving us encouragement, but the old man and I had eyesonly for each other. We were two odd strangers caught in a moment oftenderness. A moment of magic. I was Cinderella, the belle of the ball,dancing with my Prince - an old, almost-blind man, wearing a blackberet." Beautiful. Another story tells of the estrangement of a sonand his father when he married outside the faith, and how, when the fatherdied, a reconciliation of sorts was established with his brother with theygo hiking on the hills where there father had hiked with them, and how hecame to understand his father's secret strength and connection with theisle: "Walking the Kerry Way", by Tim O'Reilly. This briefdescription of Mr. O'Reilly's story does it a gross injustice, becausethere is a depth of feeling that only the author can convey. The briefbiographical descriptions at the end of each story are informative and tothe point. At the end of the book, there is an extensive, "The NextStep" which includes a number of websites, and a good bibliography.The book is well put together, and succeeds very well in conveying"true stories of life on the emerald isle."

Descriptions pull you into the landscape
Like other books in the Travelers Tales series - this book gives excellent insight into the Irish way of life and provides excellent reading (I am slightly biased, having written one of the short pieces that is included -titled Cycling to Dun Aengus).The overall quality of the book isexcellent and the descriptions pull you right into the landscape andgeography of Ireland - from sitting in smoky pubs to driving past weatherbeaten coasts.Some of these pieces are also hilarious. Highly recommendednot only as a prerequisite to a visit - but for a great read.TJLMullen@cs.com ... Read more

Product Description
This book aims to provide a stimulating and thought-provoking overview of the settlement history of Ireland from prehistory to our present century. The contributors analyze issues such as settlement change and distribution within the context of environment, demography and culture. ... Read more

Product Description
Born in suburban Boston, where being Irish is a badge of social status, Edith Shillue traveled to Ireland's northeast corner in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement—the historic 1998 peace treaty that promised to end war as a way of life in Northern Ireland. Spending time in both the middle-class environs of South Belfast and the rougher areas of Derry's housing estates, she recorded the prevailing moods of this long-troubled land as she lived and worked with its plain-speaking citizens. Whether reading in a library, listening to a café conversation, or transcribing legal documents, her keen powers of observation are always on display. The result is a revealing portrait of a people and a place caught between past and future during a time of profound change.

Shillue's encounter with Northern Ireland evokes comparison with an earlier journey she took to Viet Nam, another "post-war zone." Here, as there, she examines the function and protection of coded language, the burdens of tradition, and the comic yet painful testing of allegiance to ethnic identities. In daily conversation, the physical landscape, and the small, persistent gestures that help people survive difficult circumstances, she observes the separate identities of Ireland and describes their collision in both personal and political arenas. In so doing, she reveals her own Irish and American identities, both of which elicit warmth and understanding from her Irish acquaintances. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

wonderful look at Northern Ireland
Prior to reading this book, I'd not known much about the Northern Irish problem--just that there was one.Shillue has opened my eyes to the culture and the deep-seated and intractable issues at play here.She perfectly captures the warmth, natural intelligence and enormous humor of these people. One comes to know and appreciate people on both sides of the divide and realize how difficult this situation will be to reconcile.A wonderful place to begin learning more about this culture and issue. ... Read more

Product Description
Ireland is now an urban society, and both parts of the island have experienced rapid urban-generated growth and new patterns of development in recent years. This inter-disciplinary book adopts an all-Ireland perspective to investigate the tension that exists between sustainable urban development values and rhetoric - such as increased densities, brown field development, the compact city and social inclusion - and the emerging geography of urban Ireland, influenced by consumer and lifestyle choices. The introduction provides an overview of the dynamics of urban change, particularly during the 1990s, and the experience of rapid economic growth. The following chapters are divided into two parts, considering sustainable urban environments, and sustainable communities. This book will appeal to students, academics, policy and decision-makers, given that it adopts both a qualitative and quantitative approach, and introduces a range of new empirical studies covering both physical and social sustainable development. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume in the New History of Ireland, covers a period of major significance in Ireland's history. It outlines the division of Ireland and the eventual establishment of the Irish Republic. This work provides comprehensive coverage of political developments, north and south, as well as offering chapters on the economy, literature in English and Irish, the Irish language, the visual arts, emigration and immigration, and the history of women. The twenty-five contributors to this volume, all specialists in their field, provide the most comprehensive treatment of these developments of any single-volume survey of twentieth-century Ireland. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first book to take a comprehensive view of the historical geography of Scotland since the Union. The period is divided into sections separated by the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War, and each section offers a general view followed by detailed studies giving a balanced coverage of regional and urban-rural criteria, and the economic infrastructure. The book contains a number of original researches and Dr Turnock attempts to set the Scottish experience in a framework of general ideas on modernisation. ... Read more

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This edited volume of 16 papers provides an introduction to the techniques and methodologies, approaches and potential of environmental archaeology within Ireland. Each of the 16 invited contributions focuses on a particular aspect of environmental archaeology and include such specialist areas as radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, palaeoentomology, human osteoarchaeology, palynology and geoarchaeology, thereby providing a comprehensive overview of environmental archaeology within an Irish context. The inclusion of pertinent case studies within each chapter will heighten awareness of the profusion of high standard environmental archaeological research that is currently being undertaken on Irish material. The book will provide a key text for students and practitioners of archaeology, archaeological science and palaeoecology. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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One of a landmark series back in print for a new generation of readers to collect and cherish. Each book includes exciting tales accompanied by more than twenty brand-new black-and-white illustrations. Readers will immediately recognize their favorite tales. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Different spins make this one fun
With very original drawings and fun stories, Favorite Fairy Tales told in Ireland, retoldby Virginia Haviland is a good buy.It gives the reader a different view of folklore than the traditional stories usually told in the US by adding different spins.Overall I feel this is a good book to own in a library collection. ... Read more