Ireland (Women in Society) [Library Binding]

Patricia Marjorie Levy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Women in Society | Publication Date: April 1994

A travel guide to Ireland, land of ancient myths and hi-tech ambitions. The best sights. Mountains, murals and monasteries. Where to eat, sleep and drink. Pubs, peat bogs and poets. Doing the Dingle and walking the Sheep's Head Way. The pirate queen and the king of excuses. Full color maps. and Mexico including places to eat, sleep and drink.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-A serviceable entry with the strengths, as well as the weaknesses, of earlier series titles. Fine-quality, well-selected, full-color photographs illustrate a clear and straightforward, if unexciting, text. The history, geography, government, economy, and people are discussed. In fact, all facets of the culture commonly investigated in classroom research reports are well covered. Even the difficult question of the political division into two Irelands is handled respectably and in a well-balanced fashion. However, the book opens with a chapter on geography, but a map does not appear until the end. The brief bibliography refers exclusively to British titles. The "Visual Geography" series (Lerner), which covers Northern Ireland and Ireland in separate volumes, and the "Children of the World" series (Gareth Stevens) should meet most libraries' needs, but this is an acceptable purchase where there is a strong demand for materials on this country.
Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Library Binding edition.

Review

"Footprint can be depended on for accurate travel information and for imparting a deep sense of respect for the lands and people they cover." World News; "If 'the essence of real travel' is what you have been secretly yearning for all these years, then Footprint are the guides for you." Under 26" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 128 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corp (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854355635
• ISBN-13: 978-1854355638
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,501,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good guide for the independent, not-impoverished, visitor, October 31, 2005

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ireland, 3rd (Footprint - Travel Guides) (Paperback)

The team of Sheehan & Levy gets around plenty, judging from their publications on an array of travel and other topics. Their experience, in this revision of a 2000 guidebook, makes for an efficient, straightforward, and perhaps more honest account for travelers confident enough to veer of well-trodden paths, but not so spartan as those in a Rough Guide or as quirky as Lonely Planet might cater to. After all, to boot, this is Ireland, and any sense that a visitor today will be far off from civilization or deprived of comforts is ridiculous, no matter how besotten with sylvan stereotypes a tourist might be.

I tested its usefulness by sampling two areas I know well, Galway city and O'Connell St, Dublin, to see what Sheehan & Levy found that other guidebooks might miss. For Galway city's bookstores, Kennys is mentioned (although it will close its historic High St store in 2006, by the way) but not the secondhand seller on the next street over Charley Byrne's. McDonagh's bustling chip shop might be hard to find, as it's listed here without the "Mc." But the map of the city centre is well drawn, and avoids the common problem other guidebooks invite by keeping the heart of the touristed areas out of the "gutter" of the spine. Lots of eateries & sleeperies are cross-listed on both the map and the following text; this book gives slightly less attention to sights and more to practicalities of food, bed, and fun pubs than its competitors.

For Dublin, it's the only guide I've perused that mentions, for instance, the Royal Dublin Hotel on O'Connell St. Its handsome map of this area is placed within the text itself, again cross-referenced with the surrounding practicalities. Arrows at the start of paragraphs on sights refer you to local DART stops, tell you how far the place is from the train, or send you to another page for additional information. This attention to linking the various aspects of the guidebook together shows the care that's gone into this edition. The general maps at the back lack the numbers for secondary roads, and so are not useful when on the road wondering where the turn is, but maps within the text offer more detail when needed.

While the book's two-shade print appears sober, and you do not get the plethora of photos other guides give, the space saved is better spent on hard facts, with sidebars filling you in on certain local legends and contexts when appropriate. The details on where to stay and eat and shop are kept at the back of a section, apart from the sights and maps, but this is common to most guidebooks, allowing you to read about the whole area first and then figure out later where to stop. It is a bit tricky to find your way back and forth within the pages due to the reliance on only two colors, but the marginal colors for different regions/counties on the page edges mitigate this.

Culture and history chapters append the book, in short essays, and the books recommended are up-to-date and varied in their approaches. Unlike many guides which play into the by-now false assumption that you will be able to practice cute phrases in the Irish language with eager & beguiling locals, this guide dispenses with the bilingual "can I have a drink?/are you single?" types of phonetically rendered banter that embarrass otherwise sober reference works.

In the front, a bit more information than usual explains the differences in accomodation, and the numbers for various transport options are laid out easily for reference. Pp. 9-11 balance the pre-requisite postcard-pretty shots with a brisk textual reminder that today's Ireland's much more bustling and perhaps less beholden to "tug the forelock" than before. If you want a direct guide to this changing Ireland, this is a good choice for the more independent traveler at ease on his/her own.