Book Review

TITLE: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF IRELAND
Edited by Brian Lalor
Foreword by Frank McCourt

PUBLISHER NOTES: The Encyclopedia of Ireland is the most comprehensive book to date on all aspects of Irish life, culture, and history. It encompasses the whole of Ireland—its islands and seas, its people both home and abroad—and provides fascinating facts about subjects from prehistory to the present.

The encyclopedia contains:
• Thousands of entries arranged alphabetically, from the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to Zozimus, a nineteenth-century balladeer;

• More than 700 illustrations and maps, most in full color;

• Coverage of art, biography, cinema, current events, fashion, food, history, Irish language, literature, music, politics, religion, sports, and more;

• Biographies of a wide range of famous people of Irish descent, including St. Brigid, Éamon de Valera, John F. Kennedy, Bono, Eugene O’Neill, Mary Robinson, and William Butler Yeats;

• Articles on often-neglected subjects such as the role of women in Irish life and the contribution of Irish scholarship to science and philosophy;

• Extensive cross-references and a full index.

“A hard-to-put-down book. It sits by my elbow making it difficult for me to write these words. I want to get back to it, to go from page to page, topic to topic. . . . You might be tempted to travel from front to back, stopping to feast here and there, but don’t treat it like a book. It is a treasure. Better to dip and meander. . . . This is a book that will settle many an argument and, I hope, send many a reader off on a journey.”—Frank McCourt

Brian Lalor is the author of numerous books on Irish landscape, typography, and travel, including The Blue Guide to Ireland, The Irish Round Tower, The Laugh of Lost Men, and West of West. Frank McCourt is the acclaimed author of Angela’s Ashes and ’Tis: A Memoir.

Published in association with Gill & Macmillan
Yale University Press - View sample pages from the Encyclopedia in PDF

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Capital Celtic REVIEW: The Information posted above gives you the publishers details on this find book which was released for publication on October 15, 2003 by Yale University Press.

Irish-Americans who thought they had a good basic grip on the motherland will find each page loaded with material they've simply never seen before. Thousands of well-written entries deal with politics, the arts, science, history, culture, social issues, and prominent individuals from Michael Collins to Bono, from Iris Murdoch to Maeve Binchy. And the book addresses in detail often-neglected subjects such as the role of women in Irish life and the contribution of Irish scholarship to science and philosophy. With more than 700 illustrations (477 in color), extensive cross-references, and a full index, The Encyclopedia of Ireland is the source for answers to questions about the Emerald Isle.

I have only had my copy of the book for a short while and I find it very hard to put it down. There is so much about my ancestral home that I do not know. As I have been searching and researching, reading and taking notes I have always looked for that one resource that would stand out as, "the one book", "the first book" to turn to for detailed information. Finally there is The Encyclopedia of Ireland which may soon become known as the best "Encyclopedia on Ireland."

If you are looking for one good well-written masterpiece, buy The Encyclopedia of Ireland and encourage every library to get this book on their shelves. The amount of information within the pages of this book renders the price a bargan.

Order Online at Amazon - CLICK HERE.

Review by: EEHealy

Published: Capital Celtic Network
Year Written: 2003