Customer Reviews

Ireland for Beginners

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"Ireland for Beginners" is a wonderful introduction to the history of Ireland.
I have used it almost exclusively to intriduce my friends and acquaintances to the roots of the present day Irish troubles.
. Written in a comic book format, it is a quick read yet covers all of the salient points required to develop an understanding.

I reccomend it for anyone interested in clarifying the present situation in Northen Ireland for themselves, or for their non - Irish friends.
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This is as close to a multi-media experience as you will find in a book. The authors use text, comics, photos and reproductions of art to tell the hard and heroic history of the Irish people. The comic or picture format, which usually provides a good medium for communication and teaching, here seems a detriment rather than an asset. The layout of the pictures and text on the page really chop the material up so at times you are not sure what to read next. The history itself jumps forward very quickly both in time and with characters and everything is touched on with such a brief overview that I found it very hard, not only to keep up, but also to retain what I had just read. Being a die hard comic fan, I thought this would be a great way to digest the highlights of Irish history. Instead I got frusterated and bogged down quickly with the format. Maybe this is the way some folks assimilate historical information, but with names, dates and events flying around in such a random pattern on the page, I don't think I got very much out of this sensory assault. Clever idea, bad execution.