Irish Books

This is a great first book on the Battle of Britain. I have enjoyed many Max Hastings and Len Deighton history books because of their ability to make these subjects very readable. The book includes sections on the equipment of both sides of the Battle and keeps the book personal and interesting. The die hard history buffs will probably not care for this book as much as some because it lacks the thoroughness of an in-depth account. This book is excellent as an introduction to the Battle or military history in general.

This book provides an excellent overview of the the Battle of Britain. One gets the impression that this book was intended to be the pictorial compliment to the author's more in depth account of the battle 'Fighter'. Included are many photographs, drawings, charts and maps which help explain the battle on a day by day basis. The book also looks at air power and technology from 1918-1939, the rise of the Luftwaffe, aircraft designs and radar and some of the personalities involved with the battle. Included are many personal accounts from the combatants themselves that along with the pictorial content bring the battle to life. Some brief analysis is provided on where the RAF got it right and where the Luftwaffe got it wrong. Overall a delightful book which is an easy read and an excellent starting point of reference.

This book is lean and mean.Very little is devoted to the battle itself,because apparently there wasn't much to it,except in intensity.It seems the English didn't have much cavalry and not enough archers either,the Normans had plenty of well trained experts in both.In addition it seems that during this period Angleland was very politically unstable and had only recently repelled 2 invasions from Norway and the Danes as well.With all the chaos maybe the Normans were a positive addition to the English gene pool.This book also explains well the history of English territorial claims on the European continent.The claims of Henry the fifth were the reassertions of territorial rights in existence since the rule of William the Conqueror.There are some excellent interpretations of the Bayeux Tapestry as well.You'll be an expert without doing the original 3 volume 2000 page set and it will cost you about 3 or 4 hours and 3 or 4 cups of coffee(or tea?).The famous English Longbowman at Agincourt is an original French(Norman) invention.

The Battle of Hastings was a key turning point in the history of Northern Europe. Together with the Battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge, this trilogy of battles enabled the great civilization that was coming into being in Western Europe penetrate into the British Isles, when at that time were culturally and economically part of Scandanavia. Bradbury's account is the best that I have read - it is clear, concise but detailed enough to satisfy anyone who wants to find out more about the climactic battle of 1066. I loved the way he used the Bayeux Tapestry right through as a reference document. Many accounts (and I would include Frank McLynn's recent '1066 - Year of Three Battles'), use the tapestry as a secondary source only, a sure sign of the tyranny of the written word! Yet the Tapestry was made within at least twenty years of the battle on the order of one of the major participants (Bishop Odo of Bayeux, the Conqueror's half-brother). It is therefore perhaps the prime source for the battle. It is also a significant document on the weapons and tactics used, besides being a prime work of art! You feel that Bradbury is judicious and discerning on the major puzzles - Did Harold swear an oath to William? Did Edward support William's succession? What use did the English make of horses? How did Harold die? Did the Normans win the battle with a 'feigned flight'? How did the Normans use their archers? Where were the English archers? Anyone with an interest in medieval politics and military history should have this book on their shelves.

This is by far the best book on the subject of 'Beauty and the Beast' ever written. Betsy Hearne takes an insightful look at the fairy tale and its many versions throughout the centuries. Unfortunately its time span is only from the 1700's to the early 1980's, thus excluding any discussion of the Ron Koslow television series or the 1991 Disney animated film. But even with this, the book is well worth several readings if you are at all interested in studying this 'tale as old as time.'

I found this book serveral years ago, and bought it becuae, well, I love Beauty and the Beast (with the possible exception of the Disney verson....) and this was reccomended as one of the better basic resources. It was originally writen as a thesis , so basically it's all that research available without the bother of looking it up yourself. She discusses the shift of the story from the folktales to the novels and other adaptations of today. Unfortunately it was written BEFORE Disney, but I found a review she did of the movie later. It was pretty funny. It has a copy of one of the oldest printed versions (Mme Le Prince du Beaumont) and a transcription of a French folk version as resources at the end. (I wish I could read French.)

This book could be read as its own text, or as a companion to the author's previous book, The Irish for No. This volume takes on many of the same places, people, and themes, and uses the same groundbreaking poetic line sprawling across the page to recreate the eight-bar rhythm of traditional music. But this book is also distinct: its short discursive essays give it the narrative feel of somebody letting you in on the secrets of his own life, and the darker tone reminds you that you have traveled to the other side of the poet's mind.

The extensions from the previous volume begin very explicitly, with the title, which comes from a poem in TIFN. The Exiles' Club, who were the center of a poem in the last book, now come up as the subject of an essay in this book. But the book reads like the aftermath of a car bomb, with body parts strewn throughout the titles (Hairline Crack, Bloody Hand) and memorials to notable acts of violence ("The stopped clock of The Belfast Telegraph seems to indicate the time / of the explosion -- or was that last week's?").

This book could easily have a wider audience than most books of poetry. For students of history, lovers of literature, Celtophiles, and those curious about the mind of the victim of violence, Belfast Confetti can be both an education and a very grim pleasure to read. Be warned, you can't read it too quickly, or the darkness will tear you down in a hurry; this is a book to be consumed in sips, not huge gulps. But it is a book to be consumed nevertheless, and enjoyed for as long as it lasts.

"Belfast Confetti", along with Carson's 1987 "The Irish For No", are the most impressive volumes of poetry I have read in recent years. I could (and do, as an English student) pour over the poems for hour. He is wonderfully skilled at interconnecting his work and setting a real sense of place. Carson explores Belfast and the way the city and its people have changed in the last four decades or so since his youth. He is concerned not with judging the changes, but in examining the ways in which the Troubles, the English presence, and modernization have affected Belfast/Northern irish culture and the way his own memory betrays the truth as it falters. These are rich books, they keep you looking over & over for more layers. I also reccommend, if you can find it, his 1997 prose work, "The Star Factory". Its themes and subjects tie right back in with BC and TIFN.

There is no point (or space) for any explanation of Beowulf without being highly redundant. Rather I would like to say that this is by far the best Beowulf edition I have ever come across. The original Anglo-Saxon (Old English) runs along side the translated version of Modern English, page by page. The Old English however is in plain form (no long marks over certain vowels).

With a fantastic 32 page introduction (map and all), Explanatory Notes, Peoples and Genealogies Table of the Royal Houses (Danes, Geats and Swedes) and a glossary of proper names...this is a must for any one who is seriously interested in studying Beowulf at level of scholarship.
On the other hand, it is also a fantastic edition for the beginner, because of all of the explanation that the book provides. It does not however, simplify the text (like Cliffnotes for Beowulf).

Here is the first paragraph of the introduction:
-------------------------------
Introduction

Beowulf is to English what the Odyssey and the Iliad are to Greek language and literature. The oldest piece of vernacular literature of any substance not only in England but the whole of Europe, it breathes the true spirit of the northern Heroic Age. We cannot tell how it might have compared with similar epics composed at this time, since not others have survived. The various vicissitudes through which the medieval libraries passed meant that the preservation of the Beowulf-manuscript itself was a matter of mere chance. Because of changes in language, spelling and handwriting conventions, it would probably have ceased to be intelligible, or even legible, a mere two hundred years after it was written. But the poem was already several centuries old when this sole surviving copy was made, and close examination of the text suggests that it had a complex history of transmission, being copied several times in different parts of the country . Beowulf may have been very popular; certainly it was familiar enough for the name `Grendel's pit' or `pool' to have been used, presumably for fun, to describe boggy places in several parts of the country. And that the poem was highly regarded in literary circles is suggested by the fact that it seems to have been imitated in parts by certain writers of both poetry and prose.

---------------------------------

I hope this is of some worth. This is a good book by Michael Swanton.
Enjoy!

Beowulf is the greatest surviving Old English poem; a poem predominantly based upon Nordic-Germanic folklore, heroic legends, historical traditions and biblical sources all united. Laced throughout the entirety of Beowulf one can find many elements of Christianity and Christian philosophy - whether it be superficial metaphor, inter-textuality or allegory - man lives only through the grace of God, all earthly things stem from God, or Mans bearing is to be humble and unselfish. Nevertheless intertwined into these Christian elements there is also a strong sense of heroic pride redolent of pagan influence. Thus, Beowulf presents one with a dichotomous relationship between Christian and pagan values.Beowulf is a mix of two ideals; the heroic warrior of the Pagans and the humble selfless servant of the Christians. It is a poem written in a time when Christianity and Paganism existed simultaneously, where many of the newer moral values of the Christians were consistent with Pagan values. Therefore any assessment of Beowulf must deal with both Pagan and Christian themes. Together, the Christian and the Pagan, form an integral part of the poem, in both the social content of the era and in the digressions. They are all a part of the poem, in which no part can be ignored without compromising the poet's desired effect

THE STORY IS ESSENTIALLY A LOVE STORY -- ABOUT 2 MAIN COUPLES. THERE ARE LOTS OF OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL SUBPLOTS, ALSO. THE STORY INVOLVES TWO YOUNG MEN WHO ARE EACH IN LOVE, ONE GEORGE BERTRAM AND ONE ARTHUR W. GEORGE DENOUNCES HIS UNCLES MONEY AND WILL NOT BE MOVED TO ANY SORT OF ACTION BY IT -- THUS CAUSING THE WOMAN HE LOVES TO POSTPONE THEIR MARRIAGE. SHE WANTS TO LIVE WELL WITH LOTS OF MONEY. ON THE OTHER HAND, ARTHUR DOES THE SAME, FEELING HE CANNOT MARRY HIS LOVE SINCE HE HAS NO MONEY. THE EFFECT THAT MONEY OR THE LACK THEREOF HAS ON THESE 4 PEOPLE AND THE OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE STORY IS THE CENTRAL THEME. THE BOOK IS SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND EXAMINES DEEPLY THE PSYCHE OF ALL THE CHARACTERS. I LOVED IT!

"The Bertrams is one of Trollope's more remarkable novels, drawing on his experiences in Egypt and the Holy Land, and has an unusually exotic flavour, particularly for readers familiar only with the English rural world of his Barsetshire series."

the title says it all, in this volume i ran across almost all my favorite poems, plus plenty that were new to me, and i thoroughly enjoyed the whole book.

What an ABSOLUTE gem of a book! I just got it today and I can't believe I haven't come across it before!

Beautifully illustrated with gold trimmed pages, and arranged into nine thematic sections that cover many subjects including war, youth, love and life etc.

I sat with my mom and read out poems she had read to me when I was a child, along with ones she remembered from her childhood in the 1940s.

Who can forget such first lines as "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright in the forest of the night" (Blake) or "She walks in beauty like the night," (Lord Byron) and this is just a tiny taster of what is hidden in these wonderful glossy pages that make up this much understated book.

You have a cacophony of poets to choose from such as G.K.Chesterton, Rudyard Kipling, Christina Rossetti, Leigh Hunt, Rupert Brookes, Percy Shelley, and even sonnets from Shakespeare himself!

Don't miss the Philip Larkin's satirical ode to family relationships and Dorothy Parker's caustic ditty about life and death.

This is a book of poetry for all tastes, and all ages and if you can find a copy grab it and horde it away for those nights when there is nothing on TV and all you want to do is sit by the fire and read a jolly good book of verse.

J. D. Fleeman has left us a hefty 2-volume set of incredible value to some people, but perhaps not to many. It's an extremely comprehensive listing of various editions of Johnson's works, both as sets and isolated volumes. The date range is from original editions when Johnson lived (18th C), up to recent times. Some of what is here is surprising - - such listings of Johnson's Dictionary in foreign languages, which initially caused me surprise (but were understandable with more thought).

I have used it on occasion in placing bids on eBay (it has helped me understand editions such as a 1970's facsimile reprint of the 1st edition of Johnson's Dictionary), as well as when buying 19th C editions of his books over the Internet, and helped take some of the guesswork out of what I was purchasing. It's told me more about some of the editions I already own. It has also helped me anser questions from visitors to my Johnson website.

I imagine that this set is very valuable to the specialist, but I imagine that even the specialists would prefer to borrow it from their local library than to buy it. While this is a monumental achievement, and deserves all five of the stars I've given it, at $460 for the 2 volumes together, I think most people's uses for this would be limited.

Scholarly books have become absurdly and prohibitively expensive. This volume, and its companion, vol. 2, covering the years 1760 to 1816, exemplify this unfortunate trend. However, occasionally, a book comes along that warrants, if not justifies, the expense. Such is the case here. Johnson studies has been blessed with excellent scholars and editors, commencing in its modern phase with the efforts of the Victorian GB Hill (whose 1905 edition of the Lives of the Poets still holds sway), and continuing majestically through he 20th century with the excellent Yale Johnson, the Yale treatment of the Boswell papers, Redford's splendid edition of Johnson's letters, and so on. Fleeman's magnificent contribution, however, stands forth even from this rich tradition.

The meticulous care that Fleeman has introduced into each entry is matched only by the monumental largeness of his his scope. These 2 volumes, which Fleeman's premature death unfortunately prevented his seeing through to publication, exemplify textual scholarship--an art undervalued in modern literary studies--at its Olympian height, and will remain a mainstay of reference for Johnson scholars for a very long time. Yes, they are absurdly and prohibitively expensive, but they are a must-have for the serious Johnson scholar.

This book has to be seen to believed - it's so meticulous that what isn't included here really isn't worth knowing!

These three volumes, over twenty years in the making, are an outstanding work of scholarship. Ronald Cohen has spared no effort to locate and describe the published works of Winston Churchill, examining literally hundreds of archives, libraries and private collections around the world. The scope of the Bibliography is impressive, including not only Churchill's own books, but also pamphlets and a wide range of articles, speeches and letters published in books and periodicals - only a fraction of which were included in the earlier Woods' bibliography. Cohen provides a full description of all works falling into Section A, and offers a wealth of information relating to the circumstances of publication. This is perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Bibliography. By going into the publishers' archives and the Churchill papers, the author is able to provide new details on print runs, distribution, contract negotiations, and even such things as the selection of titles. In the process he debunks many long-standing myths. This is an essential reference work for Churchill collectors and scholars, but anyone interested in Churchill's remarkable career as a writer and journalist will find the books informative and far more entertaining than any bibliography has a right to be.

This is an excellent collection of Irish music for the beginner to intermediate piano player. Even the unfamiliar songs are easy to learn in this uncomplicated Irish folk style. You will definitely have a lot of fun learning to play piano using this book. My only complaint is that while there are plenty of songs to choose from, you can easily play through this whole book in a short time. This will leave you wanting additional Irish music in this style.

Do you have a familiar tune in your head but can't quite remember the words? Maybe it's in this book! This has over 70 Irish songs, with piano part/vocals/and guitar chords. Among the fun titles are "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder," "I'm a Rover and Seldom Sober," and "Throw Him Down, McCloskey."