How to Be Irish: (Even if You Already Are) [Paperback]

Sean Kelly (Author), Rosemary Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 1999

Luck has nothing to do with it!

Of course you want to be Irish. Look what it did for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sinead, Maeve Binchy, Roddy Doyle, JFK, Seamus Heaney, Angela's Ashes, and all those Riverdancers. But until now, the secrets of how to be Irish have been hidden in a Celtic Twilight of blather and blarney.
        
Now this easy-to-read (with plenty o' pictures) handbook dares to tell you:

  How to have an Irish name
  How to talk, look, and act Irish    
  How to vote Irish  
  How to have thin skin, a terrible temper, and the gift of gab

Whether you're proudly Irish, anti-Irish, fallen-away Irish, or would-be Irish--that is to say, if you're a living, breathing human being--How to Be Irish is for you.

Learn (to your surprise) who's really Irish and who's only passing!        

Discover (to your astonishment) your own underground Irish roots!        

And brace yourself, Bridget, for the shocking (if brief) history of Irish-American sex!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Luck has nothing to do with it!

Of course you want to be Irish. Look what it did for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sinead, Maeve Binchy, Roddy Doyle, JFK, Seamus Heaney, Angela's Ashes, and all those Riverdancers. But until now, the secrets of how to be Irish have been hidden in a Celtic Twilight of blather and blarney.
        
Now this easy-to-read (with plenty o' pictures) handbook dares to tell you:

  How to have an Irish name
  How to talk, look, and act Irish    
  How to vote Irish  
  How to have thin skin, a terrible temper, and the gift of gab

Whether you're proudly Irish, anti-Irish, fallen-away Irish, or would-be Irish--that is to say, if you're a living, breathing human being--How to Be Irish is for you.

Learn (to your surprise) who's really Irish and who's only passing!        

Discover (to your astonishment) your own underground Irish roots!        

And brace yourself, Bridget, for the shocking (if brief) history of Irish-American sex!

About the Author

Sean Kelly is umpteenth-generation Canadian-Irish. He left teaching to edit the National Lampoon. He writes for children's television (Noddy and Friends) and is co-author of several books, including Saints Preserve Us!, Who in Hell . . . , and Boom Baby Moon.

Rosemary Rogers, who lives in Manhattan, is the co-author of Saints Preserve Us!, Who in Hell . . . , and Boomer Babes. Both of her parents were born in Ireland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Villard; 1 edition (February 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375752366
• ISBN-13: 978-0375752360
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Often entertaining and funny and but some errors, February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Be Irish: (Even if You Already Are) (Paperback)

This book is entertaining and funny in many ways, but there are some errors that should have been caught by editors or researchers. I wrote to the publisher (Random House) about two of the errors. The worst one: the authors confuse Al Smith (undoubtedly Irish) with Fiorello LaGuardia by writing that Smith was not even Irish, but had an Italian father and German mother. Also, some readers might be insulted by the authors' iconoclasm regarding "sacred" Irish subjects and individuals, but humor was the main goal in the book. All in all, the book was often entertaining and funny but not up to my expectations.

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, February 27, 2009

By 

The Mystic Eye Of The Hipster (Murfreesboro, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Be Irish: (Even if You Already Are) (Paperback)

Amusing & fun, for those of us in the US who have some Irish in their blood.

Both the usual jokes, some history, & a few hilarious digs at those of us who take our ancestry too seriously..i.e. the "Stage Irish".

The Hipster gives it a Big Thumbs UP!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars insulting, April 22, 2006

By 

Marianne Hart - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Be Irish: (Even if You Already Are) (Paperback)

I thought this book to be general and inaccurate. Very insulting. It ended up in the trash.