Only in Ireland – the funniest, wildest and most absurd stories from Ireland's local newspapers For anyone with a sense of humour and a taste for the absurd, here are the best of the unique, hilarious stories from towns and villages the length and breadth of the country that make the headlines in the local newspaper ... and nowhere else. Read all about the dogs in Mountmellick forced to wear nappies, the Kerry boat builder who travelled 23 minutes back in time, the pub thieves who escaped through Limerick prison, the Corkman whose most treasured possession is his bucket from the Pope's 1979 visit and many, many more. Medium-Sized Town, Fairly Big Story showcases the best of Ireland's distinctive humour, personality and wit. This book is a window on the real soul of Ireland, a snapshot of the way we were, the way we are and, hopefully, the way we'll always be. 'Open this book on any page and you'll smile. This book will sit proudly in my toilet for many years to come.' Hector Ó hEochagáin 'Ireland's famous wit and charm is often most evident in our local papers and Ronan has unearthed the best of it for this great book.' Bressie 'I was laughing just reading some of the headlines!' Gerry Duffy, bestselling author of Who Dares, Runs and Tick Tock Ten 'This is a rale good book. A week never passes that I don't buy a few local papers and Ronan has done a savage job bringing some of the best stories from them together here.' Mick Foster, one half of Foster & Allen 'This book is a great validation of the importance of local newspapers.' Tony Allen, the other half ... 'It really is the perfect gift for a loved one living abroad or anyone at home who loves reading about what makes Ireland tick!' Ireland's Eye
Growing up in poor circumstances in the midlands town of Mullingar might seem an unlikely start for a musical superstar, but that's exactly the journey Joe Dolan travelled in his amazing life. Not only that, Joe never forgot his roots and loved Mullingar to the day he died. From losing his father at a tragically young age, to his bold decision while still a teenager to throw in a good job and pursue his dream of playing music for a living, to early stardom with The Drifters and conquering the USSR, to his later re-emergence for a new generation of fans as the iconic Man in the White Suit - the amazing, mad, bad and funny stories behind the legendary career will be told for the first time. It is a colourful, life-affirming, revealing and hugely entertaining biography that is a fitting tribute to such a beloved performer.
Medium-Sized Town, Fairly Big Story is packed full of unique stories from towns and villages the length and breadth of the country which somehow make the headlines in the local newspaper... and nowhere else.
In Tragedy and Irish Writing McDonald considers the culture of suffering, loss, and guilt in the work of Synge, O'Casey, and Beckett. He applies external ideas of tragedy to the three dramatists and also discerns particular sorts of tragedy within their own work. While alert to the real differences among the three, the book also traces common themes and preoccupations. It identifies a conflict between form and content, between heightened language and debased reality, as the hallmark of Irish tragedy.
Only in Ireland – the funniest, wildest and most absurd stories from Ireland's local newspapers For anyone with a sense of humour and a taste for the absurd, here are the best of the unique, hilarious stories from towns and villages the length and breadth of the country that make the headlines in the local newspaper ... and nowhere else. Read all about the dogs in Mountmellick forced to wear nappies, the Kerry boat builder who travelled 23 minutes back in time, the pub thieves who escaped through Limerick prison, the Corkman whose most treasured possession is his bucket from the Pope's 1979 visit and many, many more. Medium-Sized Town, Fairly Big Story showcases the best of Ireland's distinctive humour, personality and wit. This book is a window on the real soul of Ireland, a snapshot of the way we were, the way we are and, hopefully, the way we'll always be. 'Open this book on any page and you'll smile. This book will sit proudly in my toilet for many years to come.' Hector Ó hEochagáin 'Ireland's famous wit and charm is often most evident in our local papers and Ronan has unearthed the best of it for this great book.' Bressie 'I was laughing just reading some of the headlines!' Gerry Duffy, bestselling author of Who Dares, Runs and Tick Tock Ten 'This is a rale good book. A week never passes that I don't buy a few local papers and Ronan has done a savage job bringing some of the best stories from them together here.' Mick Foster, one half of Foster & Allen 'This book is a great validation of the importance of local newspapers.' Tony Allen, the other half ... 'It really is the perfect gift for a loved one living abroad or anyone at home who loves reading about what makes Ireland tick!' Ireland's Eye
Growing up in poor circumstances in the midlands town of Mullingar might seem an unlikely start for a musical superstar, but that's exactly the journey Joe Dolan travelled in his amazing life. Not only that, Joe never forgot his roots and loved Mullingar to the day he died. From losing his father at a tragically young age, to his bold decision while still a teenager to throw in a good job and pursue his dream of playing music for a living, to early stardom with The Drifters and conquering the USSR, to his later re-emergence for a new generation of fans as the iconic Man in the White Suit - the amazing, mad, bad and funny stories behind the legendary career will be told for the first time. It is a colourful, life-affirming, revealing and hugely entertaining biography that is a fitting tribute to such a beloved performer.
An account of one woman's life in the West during the second half of the nineteenth century from growing up on the Montana mining frontier to her ascent to young womanhood on a farm in southern California.
Ronan O'Gara has been at the heart of Munster and Irish rugby for the past fifteen years. Now, as he comes to the end of a glittering playing career, it is time for him to reflect on those many successes and occasional failures with the straight-talking attitude that has become his trademark. Never one to shy away from the truth, the result is Ronan O'Gara: Unguarded. Packed full of anecdotes and analysis of the teammates O'Gara has been proud to share the shirt with, and of the coaches he has played under - often in controversial circumstances - this is the definitive record of an era when Munster rose to triumph in Europe, and Ireland to win the Grand Slam, before crashing down to earth again. It is simply the must-have rugby book of the year.
Born on a Devon commune in the sixties to a teenage single mother, Coorg is declared to be the new Merlin by the group (until he is supplanted by Marc Bolan) and grows up on peace, love and brown rice - until Coorg's grandparents abduct him when he is 6, taking him back to Ireland where he is renamed Joseph and introduced to Mass, sweets, and the back of his grandmother's hand. Joe grows up in a small seaside town trying hard to fit into a dysfunctional family and a Church that doesn't seem to reward his efforts, but when he decides to be bad he finds sinning gets him no further. Then his feckless mother reappears, on the trail of the Holy Grail and (when Marc Bolan dies) after Joe as the messiah who will save the world. On the cusp of adulthood, his head churning with Catholicism, mysticism as well as the more usual teenage concerns, Joe finally cracks.
Baile Baiste is "come day, go day" until Daithi O'Neill returns and sends the quiet Irish town reeling under the weight of recrimination. As a decade or more of secret guilt and resentment ends, four young men must come to terms with the abuse in their past. Daithi's violent churchyard thievery puts the blame where Daithi says it should be: at the feet of Father Gannon and the absent but never forgotten Brother Angelus. When Father Gannon refuses to acknowledge the past, the church's secrets flood through the parish and rip apart the town, the bulwark of faith embodied by Sergeant Michael O'Brien and the town's sensitive, fragile clown.
Colm Tóibín has called Thomas Moore 'the most influential figure in shaping the Irish political psyche'. In Bard of Erin, Ronan Kelly tells the story of Moore's extraordinary life - from humble beginnings in Dublin to glittering social and literary success in London (at one point his popularity was eclipsed only by that of Sir Walter Scott and his close friend Lord Byron). Ronan Kelly's biography is a gripping and definitive account of a great romantic figure. 'A stirring tale of the diminutive would-be duellist whom his friend Byron described as "Masking and humming, / Fifing and drumming, / Guitarring and strumming" in a way we'd not quite see again until the rise of Bob Dylan' Paul Muldoon, TLS Books of the Year 'Thanks to Ronan Kelly's enthralling new biography, [Moore] is about to become an important part of our cultural landscape again ... There hasn't been a better biography published in Ireland for many a year' Irish Independent 'Vividly absorbing ... an enthusiastic, persuasive and highly readable attempt to restore a full picture of the man ... Everything in this eloquent and intelligent life shows that Moore's achievement decisively transcended the "poetical"' Roy Foster, The Times 'a major reassessment ... scholarly and comprehensive ... Kelly makes it clear what fun Moore was' Irish Daily Mail 'This new biography of Thomas Moore delights in the reading. Ronan Kelly has done his groundwork well ... A substantial, highly readable examination of the life, social development and cultural significance of a figure who occupies a pivotal position in Irish history, both as an Irish writer of the Romantic period and as "Ireland's National Poet" of a pre-partition era' Sunday Business Post 'Definitive ... a fascinating story' John Montague, Irish Times
Escaping a desperate marriage at the age of 20, Eliza Lynch fled Ireland to Paris where her extraordinary beauty and intelligence won the attention of the soon-to-be dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano López. Although the couple never married, Eliza bore him seven children and was seen as the queen of Paraguay, adored by the public and admired for her glamour and sophistication. But Eliza and Francisco's love was damned with the outbreak of the infamous War of the Triple Alliance (1864–70), the bloodiest in South America's history. This is a unique love story, chronicling a romance that endured a desperate turn of fortunes, taking them from a life of royalty to a life on the run, and culminating with the now iconic image of Lynch burying both López and their eldest son in a shallow grave with her bare hands after they had been killed by Brazilian troops. Dubbed The Irish Evita, Eliza Lynch (born in Charleville, County Cork) was the most famous woman in all of South America in the nineteenth century. Her reputation was destroyed by the opposition in the wake of the War of the Triple Alliance; but in this story of wealth, war, love, loyalty, loss and, above all, survival, Eliza is revealed as a woman who showed extraordinary courage in the face a series of unspeakable horrors. The authors have discovered the truth about Eliza's Irish origins and the cruel deception of her marriage at the age of sixteen to a duplicitous French Army officer. They reconstruct the systematic invention of her image as a prostitute around her first meeting with Solano López in Paris in 1854. Eliza Lynch was a courageous woman who was adored by the ordinary women of Paraguay and who tried to help many victims of an appalling war. The paranoid López, on discovering that his family and colleagues had been conspiring against him, trusted only Eliza and their relationship became a love story of the damned. The book reveals why the Emperor of Brazil, against the advice of his generals, pursued López to his death in 1870; Eliza buried him and their eldest son in the jungle with her bare hands. Eliza defied her enemies in a pamphlet she published in 1875 – here translated for the first time – when she returned to face her enemies in Paraguay. The authors' exclusive access to the unpublished journals of Eliza's daughter-in-law shows how scurrilous writers in South America, Britain and the US finally broke her spirit and how she died a 'burnt-out case' in Paris in 1886. In 1961 a later dictator, General Stroessner, declared her the national heroine of Paraguay. This book restores her to her rightful place among the most remarkable and brave women in modern history. Now a subject of a new Irish documentary by Alan Gilsenan, the film that helps rescue one of the great Irish lives of the 19th century from obscurity while opening a fascinating window onto what is perhaps South America's least-known country and the apocalyptic conflagration that still haunts its society.
This book argues that practices of resistance cannot be separated from practices of domination, and that they are always entangled in some configuration. They are inextricably linked, such that one always bears at least a trace of the other that contaminates or subverts it. The team of contributors explore themes of identity, embodiment, organisation, colonialism, and political transformation, examining them from historical, contemporary and more abstract perspectives within a wide geographical and cultural spectrum. Case studies include German Reunification; Jamaican Yardies on British Television; Victorian Sexuality and Moralisation in Cremorne Gardens; Ethnicity, Gender and Nation in Ecuador; Sport as Power; the film Falling Down. Entanglements of Power presents an exciting and challenging account of the symbiotic relationship between domination and resistance, and contextualises this within the parameters of geography with a rich body of case-study material and a respected team of contributors.
THE REDEMPTION SERIES: 100 years after Margaret Anne transformed an American family, comes the profound 4-part finale to the Calhoun saga. BOOK ONE: Angel Ascending Two opposite men on parallel paths are drawn into the preordained reckoning to close out a family saga. Ronan, a decent and reasonable man, has just begun a steep descent into a mid-life crisis after coming to the somber realization of an impending financial crisis in America. With his life, future, and marriage caught up in his downward spiral, Ronan soon loses faith in the path he’s chosen – and with it, his grasp of hope altogether. Inexplicably, this coincides with dreams of a golden cross, and intuitive whispers of a fated encounter. A year beyond the depths of his despair and well within the season of his spiritual awakening, Ronan makes a pitch to help restructure the legacy assets of the infamous Calhoun pedigree. On the plane ride back from his initial meeting with the enigmatic board members of the company he hopes will offer him a life-changing assignment, he is seated next to a dark and unsavory man whom he instantly wants to avoid. Over time, Ronan begins to feel a visceral draw to this mysterious man. Unbeknownst to Ronan, he has been led to this moment for a deeper purpose – where the hand of God will forever entwine him into a family legacy. In this thought-provoking first book in the Redemption Series, the final player in the legacy of Margaret Anne will be revealed.
Ronan O'Gara is one of the greatest sportsmen Ireland has ever produced. A brilliant kicker both from the hand and at penalty goals, a sublime orchestrator of play from the out-half position he has made his own, and a cool head in the pressure-cooker of club and international rugby, the list of the Cork man's achievements goes on and on. The leading points scorer in Irish rugby history, the Six Nations and the Heineken Cup. The architect of two amazing Munster triumphs in Europe. The man whose last minute drop-goal sensationally won the Grand Slam in 2009, Ireland's first for 61 years. In his candid, illuminating autobiography, O'Gara tells the story of those many on-field successes and, with brutal honesty, the darker days as well, most notably at the 2007 World Cup. He tells the inside story of Ireland's disappointments in France, and responds to the allegations about his personal life that made front-page news that autumn. Ronan O'Gara: My Autobiography is the unforgettable story of a rugby player at the top of his game, of a life lived to the full, and of a passionate and proud representative of the people of Cork and Ireland.
THE IRISH TOP 10 BESTSELLER A gripping investigation into one of Irish history's greatest mysteries, Great Hatred reveals the true story behind one of the most significant political assassinations to ever have been committed on British soil. 'Heart-stopping . . . The book is both forensic and a page-turner, and ultimately deeply tragic, for Ireland as much as for the murder victim.' MICHAEL PORTILLO 'Gripping from start to finish. McGreevy turns a forensic mind to a political assassination that changed the course of history, uncovering a trove of unseen evidence in the process.' ANITA ANAND, author of The Patient Assassin 'Invaluable.' IRISH TIMES 'Intellgient and insightful.' IRISH INDEPENDENT On 22 June 1922, Sir Henry Wilson - the former head of the British army and one of those credited with winning the First World War - was shot and killed by two veterans of that war turned IRA members in what was the most significant political murder to have taken place on British soil for more than a century. His assassins were well-educated and pious men. One had lost a leg during the Battle of Passchendaele. Shocking British society to the core, the shooting caused consternation in the government and almost restarted the conflict between Britain and Ireland that had ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty just five months earlier. Wilson's assassination triggered the Irish Civil War, which cast the darkest of shadows over the new Irish State. Who ordered the killing? Why did two English-born Irish nationalists kill an Irish-born British imperialist? What was Wilson's role in the Northern Ireland government and the violence which matched the intensity of the Troubles fifty years later? Why would Michael Collins, who risked his life to sign a peace treaty with Great Britain, want one of its most famous soldiers dead, and how did the Wilson assassination lead to Collins' tragic death in an ambush two months later? Drawing upon newly released archival material and never-before-seen documentation, Great Hatred is a revelatory work that sheds light on a moment that changed the course of Irish and British history for ever. 'McGreevy provides more than the anatomy of a political murder; in reconstructing this era of blood, poverty and wartime trauma, he also gives full expression to the terrible forces that WB Yeats once called the "fanatic heart" and the "great hatred".' THE TIMES 'Thoughtful and well-researched . . . an important and valuable addition to the library of the Irish Revolution.' PROFESSOR DIARMAID FERRITER, University College Dublin
Do you want to get started building apps for Android, today’s number one mobile platform? Are you already building Android apps but want to get better at it? The AndroidTM Developer’s Cookbook, Second Edition, brings together all the expert guidance and code you’ll need. This edition has been extensively updated to reflect the other Android 4.2.2 releases. You’ll find all-new chapters on advanced threading and UI development, in-app billing, push messages, and native development, plus new techniques for everything from accessing NFC hardware to using Google Cloud Messaging. Proven modular recipes take you from the basics all the way to advanced services, helping you to make the most of the newest Android APIs and tools. The authors’ fully updated code samples are designed to serve as templates for your own projects and components. You’ll learn best-practice techniques for efficiently solving common problems and for avoiding pitfalls throughout the entire development lifecycle. Coverage includes Organizing Android apps and integrating their activities Working efficiently with services, receivers, and alerts Managing threads, including advanced techniques using AsyncTasks and loaders Building robust, intuitive user interfaces Implementing advanced UI features, including Custom Views, animation, accessibility, and large screen support Capturing, playing, and manipulating media Interacting with SMS, websites, and social networks Storing data via SQLite and other methods Integrating in-app billing using Google Play services Managing push messaging with C2DM Leveraging new components and structures for native Android development Efficiently testing and debugging with Android’s latest tools and techniques, including LINT code analysis The AndroidTM Developer’s Cookbook, Second Edition, is all you need to jumpstart any Android project, and create high-value, feature-rich apps that sell.
From the award-winning author of The Men who Loved Evelyn Cotton, this is a novel in which God plays narrator, death is the mystery and sex the possible key. When the successful and adored Rory Dixon's car goes over a cliff into the Irish Sea, his wife Helen is convinced he has been murdered. A journey through a landscape that includes incest, adolescent despair, drug abuse, suicide fixation, sex killers, corrupt politicians, repulsive old lechers, necrophiliacs, unfrocked priests and corpses dripping blood through the drawing room ceiling into guests' wine glasses.
In 2011, on the cusp of its centenary year, the Labour Party recorded its greatest ever electoral success, with 37 TDs elected and a President. In doing so the party has succeeded, temporarily at least, in breaking free from the old two-and-a-half party system. But, why, for its first century, did Labour struggle to match its ambition? This series of essays to mark the party's centenary assesses the challenges facing Labour in a deeply conservative country, where echoes of civil war and Catholic Church hegemony have dominated the political landscape. Leading writers from the fields of journalism, history and social reform examine the failings, splits and contradictions of Ireland's oldest political party alongside the social and economic achievements to which the Labour Party lays claim. Contributors: Ivana Bacik; Michael Laffan; Ronan O'Brien; Stephen Collins; David McCullagh; Eunan O'Halpin; Paul Daly; Ciara Meeha;n Niamh Puirseil; Diarmaid Ferriter; William Mulligan; Kevin Rafter; Eamon Gilmore; William Murphy ;Jane Suiter. All royalties to Barnardos.
One of the Best Books of the Year Time * NPR * Washington Post * Bloomberg News * Chicago Tribune * Chicago Public Library * Fortune * Los Angeles Times * E! News * The Telegraph * Apple * Library Journal In this newly updated edition of the "meticulous and devastating" (Associated Press) account of violence and espionage that spent months on the New York Times Bestsellers list, Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost - from Hollywood to Washington and beyond. In 2017, a routine network television investigation led to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family. This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability, and silence victims of abuse. And it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in AutobiographyIndie Bound #1 BestsellerUSA Today BestsellerWall Street Journal Bestseller
The Impact of Nutrition and Statins on Cardiovascular Diseases presents a summary of the background information and published research on the role of food in inhibiting the development of cardiovascular diseases. Written from a food science, food chemistry, and food biochemistry perspective, the book provides insights on the origin of cardiovascular diseases, an analysis of statin therapy, their side effects, and the role of dietary intervention as an alternative solution to preventing cardiovascular diseases. It focuses on the efficacy of nutrition and statins to address inflammation and inhibit the onset of disease, while also providing nutrition information and suggested dietary interventions. Includes a bioscience approach that focuses on inflammation and revisits the lipid hypothesis Presents the view that nutritional interventions have considerable value, not only for reducing cardiovascular risk for CVDs patients, but also acting as the best precaution for otherwise healthy people Advocates that nutritional habits that are formed at a young age are the best way to tackle the global epidemic that is CVDs
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