If you're looking for a field guide to leprechauns, The Truth About the Irish is not the book for you. But if you can handle a frank and funny look into the minds and hearts of Irish people, you've been touched by that fabled Irish luck. Covering all things Irish from Blarney to Yeats, renowned literary and cultural critic Terry Eagleton separates the myths from the reality with his priceless blend of sidesplitting humor, caustic commentary, and the honest lowdown on the beloved and bewildering country of Ireland.

This book brings together a series of articles which provide an overview of the Irish Diaspora from a global perspective. It combines a series of survey articles on the major destinations of the Diaspora; the USA, Britian and the British Empire. On each of these, there is a number of more specialist articles by historians, demographers, economists, sociologists and geographers. The inter-disciplinary approach of the book, with a strong historical and modern focus, provides the first comprehensive survey of the topic.

This book focuses on the intersection between the assimilation of the Irish into American life and the emergence of an American popular culture, which took place at the same historical moment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, the Irish in America underwent a period of radical change. Initially existing as a marginalized, urban-dwelling, immigrant community largely comprised of survivors of the Great Famine and those escaping its aftermath, Irish Americans became an increasingly assimilated group with new social, political, economic, and cultural opportunities open to them. Within just a few generations, Irish-American life transformed so significantly that grandchildren hardly recognized the world in which their grandparents had lived. This pivotal period of transformation for Irish Americans was heavily shaped and influenced by emerging popular culture, and in turn, the Irish-American experience helped shape the foundations of American popular culture in such a way that the effects are still noticeable today. Dowd investigates the primary segments of early American popular culture—circuses, stage shows, professional sports, pulp fiction, celebrity culture, and comic strips—and uncovers the entanglements these segments had with the development of Irish-American identity.

Perceval-Maxwell gives considerable attention to the structure of the Irish parliament in 1640 and 1641 and the decisions made by that body in both the Commons and the Lords. He argues that initially there was a broad consensus between Protestant and Catholic members of parliament on the way Ireland should be governed and on constitutional matters relating to the three kingdoms, but that this consensus was not shared by those who controlled the Irish council. He places particular emphasis on negotiations between members of the Irish parliament who were sent to England and the English council, and on the way events in Ireland influenced both English and Scottish opinion. In this context, the army raised in Ireland to counter the Scottish covenanters, and the failure to ship this army abroad before the rebellion broke out, were of crucial importance. Perceval-Maxwell contends, contrary to the opinion of other historians, that Charles I was not primarily responsible for this failure and was not plotting to use this army against the English parliament. The author explains the plotting that actually took place and provides an account of the initial months of the rebellion as it spread from county to county. In conclusion he reveals how the rebellion was perceived in England and Scotland and how these perceptions contributed to the outbreak of civil war in England. Why the Irish rebellion was important outside of its Irish context is well known but this book is the first to deal with how it became significant. It will be of particular interest to British as well as Irish historians.

The Great Irish Famine remains one of the most lethal famines in modern world history and a watershed moment in the development of modern Ireland – socially, politically, demographically and culturally. In the space of only four years, Ireland lost twenty-five per cent of its population as a consequence of starvation, disease and large-scale emigration. Certain aspects of the Famine remain contested and controversial, for example the issue of the British government’s culpability, proselytism, and the reception of emigrants. However, recent historiographical focus on this famine has overshadowed the impact of other periods of subsistence crisis, both before 1845 and after 1852. This volume seeks to counterbalance the recent historiographical focus on the Great Irish Famine which has overshadowed the impact of other periods of subsistence crisis, both before 1845 and after 1852. As occurred during the Great Famine, they often resulted in increased levels of evictions, emigration, disease and death, although the scale was lower.