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The Myths, Legends, and Lore of Ireland
More than 20 million Americans claim some sort of Irish heritage. But how much do you really know about this amazing country? Forget about shamrocks, leprechauns, and all that blarney--this book is a concise and authoritative guide that dispels the myths and tells the true stories of the Irish. Highlights
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 18, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
March 18, 2012
I thought it was and interesting book about the history of Ireland, which is mostly about English control that shaped the politics of the Isle. There are some stories about legends and lore mixed in. The book helps me understand the Potato Famine and why the heck there ate so many Irish descendants here in America. I also got some insight to my own ancestry, which is Scotch-Irish Protestant. I always wondered why my Scottish ancestors, the MacNaughton Clan went to Donegal. I surmise they did so as part of the Protestant movement the English started to displace the Irish Catholics. Interesting. I also learned that many of the Scotch-Irish left Ireland, like my ancestors, left long before the Potato Famine, which affected the much poorer Irish Catholic population who were oppressed by the English. Interesting stuff to me.
June 30, 2013
The title of this work is The Myths, Legends, and Lore of Ireland, but there's hardly any of that in this book. And while the info presented was interesting, it had very little to do with what was promised. This book reads like a history textbook, briefly touching on the main elements of Ireland's religious, political, and ethnic culture without actually revealing anything beyond what's available on Wikipedia. I'd hoped the book actually had actual stories from Ireland's rich treasure trove of myths, legends and lore, but alas, I was ultimately disappointed.
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August 14, 2021Very well done
This is hands down the best book on Ireland with its myths and lore that I have ever read 📚. I highly recommend it. You will simply ❤💙💛 💘🧡🤍💚 love this book 📖. The part about Irish drinks is particularly interesting. I'm going to have to try black velvet. If you want a great read on a rainy 🌧 night. This is the book. This is the one. It's beautiful and very well written.
This is hands down the best book on Ireland with its myths and lore that I have ever read 📚. I highly recommend it. You will simply ❤💙💛 💘🧡🤍💚 love this book 📖. The part about Irish drinks is particularly interesting. I'm going to have to try black velvet. If you want a great read on a rainy 🌧 night. This is the book. This is the one. It's beautiful and very well written.
July 23, 2017
Overall well written and entertaining to read; however, I was disappointed to find that the title is a bit of a misnomer. Very little is said about actual myths and legends, and what is said is heavily abridged. Instead, the book focuses on factual history - the research is good and the book is well put together, but not the book I thought I was getting into.
May 13, 2017
I really enjoyed reading the history of Ireland. Having ancestors that came from there it was neat and sad reading what they went through. So much political and religious drama. I learned a lot and you just might too!
June 18, 2019
A well researched book, very informative and well written. However, the title is a bit misleading. The book was more about Ireland's history and culture. It was an enjoyable read and the author writes in an easy to read style.
February 19, 2018
The title is misleading. It needs to be renamed to “A Brief Irish History with a little Lore”.
November 28, 2021
The title is very misleading but this is a very informative book if you want to learn about Ireland from prehistoric times through today.
October 19, 2022
Misleading title
This has very little in the way of myths and lore and is basically a history of Ireland with a little myth and lore to explain early history.
This has very little in the way of myths and lore and is basically a history of Ireland with a little myth and lore to explain early history.
February 12, 2023
This was awesome. Informative about a variety of cultural and historical topics.
March 19, 2017
The beginning of this book was really interesting. There were lots of myths, legends and lore mentioned that was really enjoyable. Then, it started focusing on politics, which for me, isn't all that interesting. So I had to drop it from a 4 to a 3 star book.
October 29, 2013
I just finished the Kindle version of this book, and enjoyed it quite a bit. The authors give their readers a quick overview of Irish history--starting with ancient lore, and continuing right through the present day. The tone of the book is conversational and informal, making it a comfortable read. Chapters occasionally backtrack along the timeline to fill in a detail or two, but the book is mostly chronological. I liked that the authors include information about Irish emigrants to other countries. An expert about Irish history might find such a brief survey too much of a generalization, but as a beginner to the subject, I appreciated the introduction. The ebook edition contains very few typos--I just noticed an occasional duplicate line of text (nothing that interrupted my reading).
March 15, 2012
Firstly, the title is very misleading, as it's more about the political travesties faced by Ireland in the last several centuries than anything else. As for mythology, you'd have to know next to nothing about Irish mythology for this book to be informative. Lastly, the entire thing is coated in a nasty anti-Catholic attitude that even a severely liberal Catholic such as myself finds offensive. The kindle edition I read was rife with typographical errors to boot. Glad I didn't pay for it (picked up the ebook free as part of a St. Patrick's day promotion) but I wish I hadn't wasted an hour and a half of my life on it.
March 29, 2012
Basic but useful take on Irish myths (not a lot), legends (not much of that either) and Lore (eh nope). It goes into some detail about how Ireland came about, and the how the human drama played out which finally turned into Celtic tiger (Not sure if an updated version would have the bit about how the tiger turned out to be Garfield in drag).
Good read if you don't know much about Ireland's past, and need a chronologically set introduction into the hard and often extremely unpleasant past that Ireland has.
Good read if you don't know much about Ireland's past, and need a chronologically set introduction into the hard and often extremely unpleasant past that Ireland has.
April 23, 2012
I read this book as I was travelling to Ireland as I wanted to find out as much about the beautiful place that I would visit as I could.
I started off with the stone ages and talks about what techiques they used to use in machinery then it moves along through history until the present age.
What I wanted to brush up on was the topic of Independence from the United Kindom as well as the "troubles" between the protestants and Catholics.
It make me understand the political murals so much more when I saw them in Belfast.
It really is a great book to read.
I started off with the stone ages and talks about what techiques they used to use in machinery then it moves along through history until the present age.
What I wanted to brush up on was the topic of Independence from the United Kindom as well as the "troubles" between the protestants and Catholics.
It make me understand the political murals so much more when I saw them in Belfast.
It really is a great book to read.
August 2, 2013
I got this for free on my kindle last St. Patrick's day. From the title I thought it would be about leprechauns and fairies and whatnot. But it is a historical over view of Ireland. A little boring and dry, but kind of interesting, only because it is gory and barbaric.
In the end this was a great little read about Ireland. I knew almost nothing about Ireland before reading this book. Hackney doesn't go into a lot of detail about the events, but the book starts with pre-history and covers until current times.
St. Patrick seems like an awesome guy. I'll have to learn more about him.
In the end this was a great little read about Ireland. I knew almost nothing about Ireland before reading this book. Hackney doesn't go into a lot of detail about the events, but the book starts with pre-history and covers until current times.
St. Patrick seems like an awesome guy. I'll have to learn more about him.
September 27, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. The information was interesting & I feel like I actually learned something about Ireland & it's culture. It even has a brief Gaelic pronunciation guide in the appendix & a few Irish sayings/blessings. I am very glad that I picked this up. It doesn't hurt that it was free on the Kindle around St. Patty's day! A worthwhile & informative read.
March 25, 2014
Dreadfully boring. As others have mentioned, the title is very deceiving. It should have been titled 'The Politics and Religion of Ireland'. If it had been, I never would have downloaded it...not even for free! I also cannot neglect to mention the several typos throughout the book.
April 6, 2012
Kind of gives very short explanations of conflicts and can be a little confusing. It's almost like a short explanation of most of the history of Ireland. I haven't enjoyed it very much, but I always finish what I start.
August 4, 2013
Being Irish I knew quite a bit of what this book covered but there was some things I didn't know. It was so well written in short concise chapters. Very easy to read and is a great introduction into Ireland and her history.
March 9, 2014
A concise overview of the history of Ireland and all things Irish (language, beliefs, and culture). It gives a good outline for things that one may want to explore in further depth. This seemed like appropriate reading in preparation for St. Patrick's Day!
January 15, 2015
What a delightful and interesting read this was! I learned a lot about Ireland's history, notable persons, and myths that I'd never heard of before. If you have an interest in Ireland, consider reading this book.
June 19, 2015
Light and Historic
An easy and light read spanning the history of Ireland. There were a lot of things I already knew, but I liked the later sections on modern history. It was interesting to see the ties the past has to the modern day, and how that has shaped the Emerald Isle.
An easy and light read spanning the history of Ireland. There were a lot of things I already knew, but I liked the later sections on modern history. It was interesting to see the ties the past has to the modern day, and how that has shaped the Emerald Isle.
November 10, 2015
Although I wanted to know more about Ireland's mythology and lore, I do feel I have a greater grasp on the conflict between the Northern Republic of Ireland and the rest of the island, and how it started so many centuries ago.
Want to read
March 12, 2012Kindle free download 3/12/12. Sounds interesting.
March 14, 2012
I enjoyed reading this book. I found it very informative.
March 14, 2012
This book was not at all what I expected. The information was presented in what seemed to be the most boring way possible. Ireland is so interesting, but this book made it dull.
June 13, 2012
Nice and brief piece about Irish myths and history overview - "Irish basics" for those interested.
April 2, 2012
A little dry but lots of good information about the history of Ireland. The Gaelic spellings and pronunciations make it a bit hard to remember what I had read.
March 26, 2012
Written in very short little chapters. Some history, some legend, some plain old stories. Easy to read and fairly interesting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews