The Irish World

Paperback. Pub 2001 296 in Thames & Hudson Is the country that produced The Book of Kells the same one that built Georgian Dublin or gave birth to the poetry of Yeats All too often the great periods of Irish achievement have been presented as fragments. unrelated to a continuing tradition. Yet no other country has been so obsessed with its own past as Ireland. or more tenacious of its own unity. This book presents the whole of Ireland-the dark side as well as the light. the greatness as well as the suffering. the enduring victories as well as the humiliating defeats. Eleven leading scholars and writers trace the story of Ireland. beginning with prehistoric Ireland and its stupendous megalithic monuments. In the first millennium. the early Irish Church outshone ... Forewordp. 6 The Irish - Fact and Fictionp. 7Prehistoric