Title search results
Showing 3321 - 3340 of 7607 items
Eamonn Ceannt: 16Lives (16Lives #09)
By Mary Gallagher. 2014
The son of a Head Constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary, by the age of twenty-five, Éamonn Ceannt was married…
with a young son. He played the uilleann pipes and was passionate about the Irish language. His commitment to a politically independent, Gaelic-speaking Ireland led him from the classrooms of the Gaelic League to the National Council of Sinn Féin and the senior ranks of the Irish Volunteers. He was a member of the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which planned and carried out the Rising of Easter 1916, outright rebellion against the world’s biggest imperial power. During Easter week 1916, he was Commandant of the 4th Battalion of the Irish Volunteers and a signatory to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. His severely depleted battalion held the strategic South Dublin Union until ordered to surrender. He was executed by firing squad on 8 May 1916. 'an epic new series of books' - RTE Guide on 16LivesWho's Feckin' Who in Irish History (The Feckin' Collection)
By Colin Murphy. 2014
Did an Irish monk discover America? Which rebel died of having a feckin’ tooth pulled? And who in the name…
of Jaysus was responsible for the Pledge? If you've ever wondered how much of our rabble-rousing history is true, and how much a load of wojus oul' bull, then look no further. From the great to the gormless, this book is a hilarious parade of the life stories of Ireland's favourite heroes and gougers. Gathered in a collection of the best anecdotes from our chequered past, it will tell you everything you need to know about our writers, revolutionaries, and rogues. You never know - it might help you win the odd pub quiz as well... The Feckin' collection returns with a funny, original and quirky take on some of Ireland's most famous faces! Illustrated with photographs and cartoons, the book covers key Irish figures across the millenia like: William Butler Yeats - Nobel Prize winning poet Saint Patrick - Patron Saint of Ireland Sir Ernest Shacklton - legendary Antarctic explorer Jonathan Swift - the man who wrote Gulliver's Travels Grace O'Mally - the pirate queen who ran Queen Elizabeth's troups ragged Brian Boru - the last High King of Ireland And many more!Thomas Clarke: 16Lives (16Lives #08)
By Helen Litton. 2014
A fascinating examination of the life of Thomas Clarke, a member of the Fenians and a key leader of the…
Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1916. Clarke spent fifteen years in penal labour for his role in a bombing campaign in London between 1883 and 1898. He was a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB from 1915 and was one of the rebels who planned the 1916 Rising. He was the first signatory of the Proclamation of Independence and was with the group that occupied the GPO. He was executed on 3 May 1916. This accessible biography outlines Clarke's life, from joining the Republican Brotherhood as an eighteen year old, to his execution at the age of fifty-nine.Seán MacDiarmada: 16Lives (16Lives #07)
By Brian Feeney. 2014
Seán MacDíarmada moved in the shadows, ultra-cautious about what he committed to paper, aware that his letters could be intercepted…
by the police. Because of this, history has not allocated MacDíarmada the prominent role he deserves in the organisation of the Easter Rising. This book gives Seán MacDíarmada his proper place in history. It outlines his substantial role in the detailed planning of the Rising, which led to him signing the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: second only to Tom Clarke.Hidden Soldier: An Irish Legionnaire’s Wars from Bosnia to Iraq
By Padraig O'Keeffe, Ralph Riegel. 2007
Pádraig O’Keeffe joined the elite and secretive French Foreign Legion at the age of twenty, seeking a challenge that would…
absorb his interests and intensity. He served with the Legion in Cambodia and Bosnia, then returned to civilian life, but military habits would not allow him to settle. His need for intense excitement and extreme danger drove him back to the lifestyle he knew and loved, and using his Legion training, he became a ‘hidden soldier’ by opting for security missions in Iraq and Haiti. In Iraq he was the sole survivor of an ambush in no man’s land between Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, the most dangerous place on earth. An intense, exciting and vivid account of extraordinary and sometimes horrific events, Hidden Soldier lifts the veil on the dark and shadowy world of security contractors and what the situation is really like in Iraq as well as other trouble spots. This bestseller also includes photographs taken by Padraig O’Keeffe while he was a Legionnaire and when he was in Iraq.James Connolly: 16Lives (16Lives #01)
By Lorcan Collins. 2012
James Connolly (1868-1916) became a leading Irish socialist and revolutionary, and was one of the leaders of Ireland's rebellion in…
1916. As a youth he had served in the British army in Ireland and, seeing how they treated the local population, became hugely disillusioned with the British Army. He became involved in socialism in Scotland and was the driving force behind the creation of Ireland’s trade union movement. He was Commandant of the Dublin Brigade in the Easter Rising and, too injured to stand before the firing squad, was executed tied to a chair. Written in an entertaining, educational and assessible style, this biography is an accurate and well-researched portrayal of the man behind the uprising. Including the latest archival evidence, James Connolly is part of the Sixteen Lives series which looks at the events, lives and deeds of the sixteen men executed for their role in Ireland’s Easter 1916 Rising.Michael Mallin: 16Lives (16Lives #02)
By Brian Hughes. 2012
Executed in Kilmainham Gaol on 8 May 1916, Michael Mallin had commanded a garrison of rebels in St Stephen’s Green…
and the College of Surgeons during Easter Week. He was Chief-of-Staff and second-in-command to James Connolly in the Irish Citizen Army. Born in a tenement in Dublin in 1874, he joined the British army aged fourteen as a drummer. He then worked as a silk weaver and became an active trade unionist and secretary of the Silk Weavers’ Union. A devout Catholic, a temperance advocate, father of four young children and husband of a pregnant wife when executed – what brought such a man, with so much to lose, to wage war against the British in 1916?Country Days (Reminiscence Ser.)
By Alice Taylor. 1999
Memoir from the bestselling author of To School Through the Fields who has been described by The Observer as 'Ireland's…
Laurie Lee...a chronicler of fading village life and rural rituals who sells and sells'. In this collection she takes her readers along the byways of Ireland and into the heart of the country. In stories by turn comic and poignant, she explores the character of family and friends, testing the bonds of concern and kindness which hold people together.Roger Casement: 16Lives (16Lives #06)
By Angus Mitchell. 2013
A fascinating examination of the extraordinary life of Roger Casement, executed as part of the 1916 rising, fighting the empire…
that had previously knighted him. Roger Casement was a British consul for two decades. However, his investigation into atrocities in the Congo led Casement to anti-Imperialist views. Ultimately, this led him to side with the Irish Republican movement, leading up to the 1916 rising. Arrested by the British for gun trafficking, he was incarcerated in the Tower of London and then placed in the dock at the Royal Courts of Justice in an internationally-publicised state trial for high treason. He was hanged in Pentonville prison on the 3 August—two years to the day after Britain’s declaration of war in 1914.Sean Heuston: 16Lives (16Lives #05)
By John Gibney. 2013
Seán Heuston was an Irish rebel and member of Fianna Éireann who took part in the Easter Rising of 1916.…
With The Volunteers, he held the Mendicity Institute on the River Liffey for over two days. He was executed by firing squad on May 8 in Kilmainham Jail. This book, part of the ‘16 lives’ series, is a fascinating and moving account of his life leading up to and during these events. It follows his life, from his birth in Dublin, to his time as a railway clerk in Limerick. Finally it outlines his move back to Dublin, his joining The Volunteers, the Easter Rising, his imprisonment and execution. This book is a fascinating and moving insight into a man who sacrificed his life for his country.Edward Daly: 16Lives (16Lives #04)
By Helen Litton. 2013
Born in Limerick in 1891, John Edward or 'Ned' Daly was the only son in a family of nine. Ned's…
father, Edward, an ardent Fenian, died before his son was born, but Ned's Uncle John, also a radical Fenian, was a formative influence. John Daly was prepared to use physical force to win Ireland's freedom and was imprisoned for twelve years for his activities. Ned's sister Kathleen married Tom Clarke, a key figure of the Easter Rising. Nationalism was in the Daly blood. Yet young Ned was seen as frivolous and unmotivated, interested only in his appearance and his social life. How Edward Daly became a professional Volunteer soldier, dedicated to freeing his country from foreign rule, forms the core of this biography. Drawing on family memories and archives, Edward Daly's grandniece Helen Litton uncovers the untold story of Edward Daly, providing an insight into one of the more enigmatic figures of the Easter Rising. As commandant during the Rising, Ned controlled the Four Courts area. On 4 May 1916, Commandant Edward Daly was executed for his part in the Easter Rising. Ned was twenty-five years old. His body was consigned to a mass grave.Murder, Mutiny & Mayhem: The Blackest-Hearted Villains from Irish History
By Joe O'Shea. 2012
The Blackest-Hearted Villains from Irish History The Irish are celebrated at home and abroad as explorers, freedom fighters and great…
writers and artists, but for every Tom Crean, Bernardo O'Higgins or James Joyce, there is a Hugh Gough, Antoine Walsh or Luke Ryan. This book is about the Irish slavers, grave-robbers, duellists, conmen, drug-lords and killers who wreaked havoc around the world … Includes Beauchamp Bagenal from Carlow, an eighteenth-century duellist, hell-raiser, heart-breaker Burke & Hare grave-robbers turned murderers who supplied cadavers to the medical schools of nineteenth-century Edinburgh Antoine Walsh from Kilkenny who amassed huge fortunes in the French slave trade Luke Ryan, a pirate & buccaneer born in Rush in 1750 Sir Hugh Gough, a Limerick man who commanded the British troops in the first Opium war against China James ‘Sligo’ Jameson who was rumoured to have fallen into madness and cannibalism in the Congo in 1888 … and many more!Joseph Plunkett: 16Lives (16Lives #03)
By Honor O Brolchain. 2012
Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887-1916) from Dublin was one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, the designer of the military…
plan and the youngest signatory of the Proclamation. A recognised poet, he was already dying of TB when, aged 28, he married Grace Gifford in Kilmainham Gaol, just hours before he was exectuted on May 4th, 1916. This timely biography, written in an entertaining, educational and assessible style and including the latest archival evidence, is an accurate and well-researched portrayal of the man and the uprising.O'Brien Pocket History of Irish Rebels (Pocket Books)
By Morgan Llywelyn. 2000
The stirring story of eighteen of Ireland's greatest rebels, from the sixteenth century to today. From the daring pirate-queen Grace…
O'Malley, to the fiery Protestant lawyer Theobald Wolfe Tone, and the courageous priest-patriot Fr John Murphy, Ireland's rebels have come from diverse backgrounds. But they all had one thing in common: they weren't afraid to take on a powerful Establishment and claim their right to self-determination. The first half of this lively history shows us the links between the earliest rebellions orchestrated by Celtic nobles such as Dónal O'Sullivan Beare, and the more political attempts at emancipation o f the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, dominated by the Liberator himself, Daniel O'Connell. The second half includes the seminal period of the Easter Rising and the Civil War, the fight for workers' right led by James Larkin, and the war in Northern Ireland. The personalities featured are: Donal O'Sullivan Beare, Grace O'Malley, Eoin Roe O'Neill, Silken Thomas, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Fr John Murphy, Daniel O'Connell, John Mitchell, William Smith O'Brien, Robert Emmet, Terence MacSwiney, James Larkin, Countess Markievicz, James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Michael Collins, Gerry Adams, Boby Sands.De Valera in America: The Rebel President’s 1919 Campaign.
By Dave Hannigan. 2008
Retraces the steps of an incredible journey of a leader in exile that would resonate through Irish history for the…
rest of the century ...In June 1919 Eamon de Valera stowed away on a liner bound for New York and walked into the Waldorf-Astoria using the title ‘President of Ireland’. He spent eighteen months billeted in the most expensive hotel in the world. From this luxurious base, de Valera criss-crossed America by plane, boat and train throughout 1919 and 1920, publicising his nation’s plight and raising more than $5 million for the cause of Irish independence. While the War of Independence raged back home, de Valera was supporting the cause with packed engagements from Madison Square Garden to San Francisco including a total audience of over a million people. Along the way he underwent a harsh and unforgiving political education that better equipped him to dominate Irish politics for decades. Offering a unique take on a familiar figure, and containing fascinating new information and photographs, this book details an intriguing and largely unknown episode in the career of Ireland’s most famous politician.Tony Gregory
By Robbie Gilligan. 2010
The biography of a true Irish political legend As harsh economic times return to Ireland, it is time to celebrate…
this inspirational Irishman who made his name as a grass-roots community activist and went on to hold the balance of power in Ireland. Tony Gregory’s political life has left an exceptional legacy. Robbie Gilligan has talked to the whole “kitchen cabinet” and covers his whole career, from local agitator to elected politician, and the campaigns from 1978-2009.Joe Cahill: A Life in the IRA
By Brendan Anderson, Joe Cahill. 2002
'I was born in a united Ireland, I want to die in a united Ireland.' Born in Belfast in 1920,…
Joe Cahill has been an IRA man motivated by this ambition all his life. IRA activists rarely speak about their lives or their organisation, but here Cahill gives his full and frank story, his viewpoint, his experiences -- from Northern Irish prison cells of the 1940s, on a death sentence, to Washington when the Good Friday Agreement was being negotiated. He tells of the visit he made to Colonel Gaddafi to arrange for arms and ammunition, and the fateful voyage of the Claudia; Bloody Sunday and the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin; the high-drama helicopter escape of IRA prisoners from Portlaoise Jail. This is the story of an extraordinary journey, Cahill's own life mirroring the growth, changes and development of the republican movement as a whole through more than sixty years of intense involvement.An Irish Voice: Chronicles Of Peace And Politics, 1994-1997
By Niall O'Dowd. 2010
How a typical Irish emigrant rose to a position of influence at the highest levels of US and Irish politics.…
A remarkable firsthand account of an Irish emigrant who began as a part-time footballer and house-painter and became a journalist, author, founder and publisher of two newspapers, a magazine and website, as well as a leading advocate for immigration reform for the ‘illegal’ Irish in the United States. He played a pivotal role in the Northern Ireland peace process, securing a US visa for Gerry Adams in 1994 and acting as intermediary between the White House and Sinn Féin during a critical time in the peace negotiations. Niall O’Dowd has been described as: ‘the authentic voice of the Irish in America, who has more knowledge of this community than almost anyone else alive,’ by Jim Dwyer, New York Times and Pulitzer Prize winner.Relentless
By Dean Stott. 2019
'Dean's journey from the Special Boat Service to intrepid adventurer is truly inspirational.' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes'An extraordinary tale of…
courage and adventure. Dean's story is inspirational.' - Levison Wood'Dean's relentless determination to help those who face many mental health battles is incredible and admirable - he's a hero to many.' - Bear GryllsFor readers of Ant Middleton, Jason Fox, Brian Wood, Bear Grylls and Billy Billingham comes the extraordinary, inspirational story of Special Boat Service soldier and adventurer Dean Stott.Everybody has heard the SAS motto that who dares wins, but special forces warrior Dean Stott also lives his life by another powerful mantra - that of the relentless pursuit of excellence. In 16 years of service, Dean rose to the top of Britain's fighting force, taking part of some of the most daring and dangerous operations in the war on terror, and then in the private security force, where missions included him singlehandedly evacuating the Canadian Embassy in Libya.But then, following a horrific parachuting accident, Dean's dream career was cut short, and his ethos was put to its toughest test. Just like the day when Dean's dad said that he could never make it as a soldier, Dean's doctors told him that he would never again perform at the elite level.To put it mildly, Dean disagreed, but even those that knew him were staggered by the mission that he set himself - the man who didn't own a bike would cycle the Pan American Highway, a 14,000 mile route that stretches from Argentina to Alaska, passing through some of the most dangerous countries in the world. A passionate mental health campaigner, Dean decided to up the stakes further by setting himself the task of raising a million pounds for charity. With two world records also in his sights, the stage was set for Dean to rediscover the tenacity, bravery, and downright doggedness that saw him rise to the top of the Special Forces. The final curveball arrived in the shape of a wedding invitation from his old friend Prince Harry - would he make it back in time for the royal wedding, or at all? Dean Stott is Relentless, and this is his story.Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning
By Elliot Ackerman. 2019
From a decorated Marine war veteran and National Book Award Finalist, an astonishing reckoning with the nature of combat and…
the human cost of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. "War hath determined us ..." - John Milton, Paradise Lost Toward the beginning of Places and Names, Elliot Ackerman sits in a refugee camp in southern Turkey, across the table from a man named Abu Hassar, who fought for Al Qaeda in Iraq, and whose connections to the Islamic State are murky. At first, Ackerman pretends to have been a journalist during the Iraq War, but after establishes a rapport with Abu Hassar, he takes a risk by revealing to him that in fact he was a Marine special operation officer. Ackerman then draws the shape of the Euphrates River on a large piece of paper, and his one-time adversary quickly joins him in the game of filling in the map with the names and dates of where they saw fighting during the war. They had shadowed each other for some time, it turned out, a realization that brought them to a strange kind of intimacy. The rest of Elliot Ackerman's extraordinary memoir is in a way an answer to the question of why he came to that refugee camp and what he hoped to find there. By moving back and forth between his recent experiences on the ground as a journalist in Syria and its environs and his deeper past in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, he creates a work of astonishing atmospheric pressurization. Ackerman shares extraordinarily vivid and powerful stories of his own experiences in battle, culminating in the events of the Second Battle of Fallujah, the most intense urban combat for the Marines since Hue in Vietnam, where Ackerman's actions leading a rifle platoon saw him awarded the Silver Star. He weaves these stories into the latticework of a masterful larger reckoning, with contemporary geopolitics through his vantage as a journalist in Istanbul and with the human extremes of both bravery and horror. At once an intensely personal book about the terrible lure of combat and a brilliant meditation on the larger meaning of the past two decades of strife for America, the region and the world, Places and Names bids fair to take its place among our greatest books about modern war.