Ireland, My Ireland: Memories from the Heartland [Paperback]

Arnold J. Meagher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2003

Arnold Meagher was born in a small village in the heart of Ireland—Ballinamuck in the County of Longford. When he was four, he moved with his family to the larger village of Drumlish, four and a half miles away. It is in the larger village that he begins his stories of growing up in Ireland’s heartland, among villagers who loved to chat, among dew-covered pastures on his grandmother’s farm and among the fairy forts and whispering bogs that dot the countryside. He tells of his joys and fears. His joys were many and on balance trumped his fears. These stories, told with a child’s innocence and candor, paint a portrait of the heartland that uplifts and swells the Irish heart with pride. Ireland, My Ireland deals with a rural Ireland of the 1940s and a way of living that is rapidly disappearing, but lives on in the stories that Irish men and women of that generation, scattered around the world, pass on to their children and grandchildren. This book is part of that storytelling tradition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: PublishAmerica (May 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591292670
• ISBN-13: 978-1591292678
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,348,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Arnold J. Meagher grew up in Ireland's heartland and emigrated to the U.S, in 1957 when he was in his early twenties. He got a Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of California, Davis campus, had a short stint of teaching history at the University of Houston, Clearlake campus, and since then has earned a living working in communications and technical and proposal writing for the business world. He has authored three books: The Coolie Trade: The Traffic in Chinese Laborers to Latin America, 1847-1874; Ireland, My Ireland: Memories from the Heartland, which has an audio version read by the author; and Courtship at Publix: A Muslim-Christian Encounter (a quick-read short novel). He lives with his wife, Jackie Devlin, in Eufaula, Alabama.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a wonderful life!, August 4, 2003

By 

Bob Powers (Eufaula, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ireland, My Ireland: Memories from the Heartland (Paperback)

Another title for this review could be, "A place where everybody knows your name." This is a true story where the threads of discipline, respect, wonder, learning, mystery, toil, joy, and love are woven by the author through the fabric of community, school, church, family, and nature. The result is a beautiful tapestry of a young boy growing to manhood. If you ever wanted to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, read this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IRELAND, MY IRELAND, November 13, 2003

By 

Lena Kelly (Queens, New York City, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ireland, My Ireland: Memories from the Heartland (Paperback)

Dear Arnold:
I just finished reading your book and for the first time in my life, I am writing to the author of a book I had read. It took me back so deeply that I was again living those years and I hated reaching the end because I had to leave home again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the fact that you had the facts exactly as I remembered them and you used the real names of people that I knew, even though some of them were just on the edge of my recollections, made it so much more interesting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ireland, My Ireland, September 26, 2003

By 

Una Dempsey (County Offally, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ireland, My Ireland: Memories from the Heartland (Paperback)

Ireland, My Ireland.
  
Una Dempsey
County Offally, Ireland  (9/25/2003)
       Congratulations on the publication of Ireland, My Ireland. It is truly a gem; a most definitive account of Irish rural life in the earlier decades of the establishment of this state. I have no knowledge of any other book which gives such a rich account of midland Ireland as it was for the majority of people at that time.