The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture [Paperback]

W. J. McCormack (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631228179 | ISBN-13: 978-0631228172 | Publication Date: January 28, 2002

Covering a period from c.1450 to the present, this Companion is designed to serve the needs of readers whose interests lie well beyond the familiar boundaries of Irish culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

An Irish kaleidoscope is how literary historian McCormack (Ascendancy and Tradition in Anglo-Irish Literary History from 1789 to 1939, 1985) describes this volume on Anglophone Irish culture since 1450. The alphabetical entries, which range from Abbey Theatre to the balladeer Zozimus, vary in length from a brief paragraph to several pages. The work focuses on the arts but contains entries on other cultural matters such as abortion, divorce, education, and religion. The volume, the editor notes, is intended to entertain as well as inform, so entries contain opinion as well as fact. Since collective headings are often used, the same subject turns up in various citations, making the index essential, especially because there are no cross references. Some headings seem odd, such as Fiction to 1830; no reason is given for this date limitation, and there are no other entries on fiction. In addition, some entries highlighting the current state of their subjects may soon become dated. Nonetheless, this resource provides valuable insights into Irish culture. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.Denise J. Stankovics, Rockville P.L., Vernon, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Particularly good entries may be found on 'Censorship', 'Suburbs', 'Historians terms', 'Medicine, contributions to', Copyright and piracy in the eighteenth century' and 'Colonisation, theories of', to take just a random selection. The panel of contributors seems very strong and the editor's remarks on them as a body are very interesting. The work is comprehensively indexed (hooray)." Peter J. Guilding, Reference Reviews

"McCormack presents a fascinating snapshot of modern Ireland. With its emphasis on Irish culture beyond Yeats and Heaney, this is an invaluable addition to any reference collection." J.J. Doherty, Northern Arizona University

"The Companion is a bounteous compilation, from which students and casual readers alike will emerge with a far healthier idea of what has constituted Irish culture in the modern era."The Times Higher Education Supplement

"The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture, edited by W. J. McCormack is particularly useful for basic information on interdisciplinary terms, movements, and other topics. A thorough topic index aids access." Choice

"Like most books from this publisher, the Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture is a handsome volume. In its outward appearance, the Companion is an object that book-buying people almost automatically covet". Anglia: Zeitschrift fur Englische Philologie

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 686 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (January 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631228179
• ISBN-13: 978-0631228172
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 1.6 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,166,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair to middling, October 16, 2003

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"nolanl" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture (Paperback)

Purchased this book for an Irish Studies program and found it full of interesting information. However, as the course progressed fewer and fewer pieces of relevant information were included.

A very good book to own for reference, but it would not be considered, by any stretch of my imagination, as encyclopedic and all encompassing. Purchase this book as a good addition to a library, but not the one and only source.