Customer Reviews

Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

To tell the history of Ireland, one needs to not only capture the truth of Ireland, but also the spirit of Ireland. What a tragedy it would be to tell Irish history in a boring or dry fashion. Fortunately for readers, McCourt not only captures fascinating historical details, but he is able to convey the story in an entertaining and rollicking fashion...as befitting the subject matter. The cast of characters here is huge and varied, ranging from St. Patrick to Yeats to Bono, and the book feels a bit like a friendly night at the pub with a nice fire, some songs, and a pint or two. McCourt takes an epic history, filled with triumph and tragedy, and brings it down to a personal level. This is a must-read for all who are Irish and all who are Irish at heart.

as one with virtually no knowledge of irish history, i bought this book with hopes of learning more about the interesting past of ireland, and especially about the complicated politics of 20th century ireland. this book was not one that fulfilled those hopes.

i'm not sure who mccourt's audience is - if you know a lot about ireland and its past, it seems like this book would offer you nothing new save prhaps a few interesting anecdotes. if, like me, you are looking for a starting point into irish history, i don't think this is a great book for you either. mccourt expects his readers to have a basic understanding of many events and political factions that are relevant to the past hundred years of ireland - if you don't have this knowledge, you may find yourself feeling you're missing large parts of the big picture.

mccourt's history is focused on important irish individuals, which helps his story-telling style by giving him the chance to bring these people to life with his descriptive tales. but it hurts the book as a history, because he ends up bringing up events from a person's life before he gets to explaining them as part of another person's life. this was somewhat confusing.

this isn't a terrible book - it paints interesting pictures of various figures from irish history. but if you want to gain an understanding of the whole of irish history, and especially if you're hoping to understand the forces at play in ireland's 20th century struggles for independence and unity, this is definitely not the book to read.

The little island to the west of England has brought more to the world than the world knows. Malachy McCourt's "History of Ireland" covers the nation's complete history, touching on subjects in its history as diverse as Viking invasions to Ireland's contributions to the fine arts. Nothing is left out- real history and mythology alike are covered in full. "History of Ireland" is comprehensive, well written and composed by best-selling author Malachy McCourt. It's a top pick for community library history collections, and for anyone who wants to learn more about this oft-forgotten major piece of world history.

It was very good. Lighter than most histories that are more documentary in style. Easy to read and a good background before travelling to Ireland.

I enjoyed listening to Malachy McCourt's audiobook of his autobiography, "Singing My Him Song," and of course, I have read all of his brother Frank's books. I wanted a book on the history of Ireland that was not as highbrow as Thomas Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization." McCourt's book gives us an overview of Ireland's history, beginning with Viking and Norman invasions, and provides mini biographies of people important to Ireland's drive for independence.

One thing I appreciated about this book was that contrary to what a previous reviewer wrote, I did not get the impression that McCourt is anti-Protestant. In fact, he highlights important fighters for independence who were Protestant. I always thought that it was Catholic men and women who were the only ones interested in freeing Ireland from England. But McCourt gives praise where it was due and writes about all of these Irish as heroes and fighters.

It would be impossible to include all that has happened in Ireland's history, from before St. Patrick's arrival, to the present day, in a book this size. This book is good for an overview, perhaps some reading before a trip to the Emerald Isle. For more in-depth reading, read "Angela's Ashes," "How the Irish Saved Civilization," "Paddy's Lament" and other books that give different views on the history. Find a period you want to read about and go from there.

I like McCourt's tone in this book and yes, he sounds like someone you would want to sit next to in a bar while he tells you these stories. McCourt does not pretend to be a scholar or historian, and in fact, relays a story about asking a friend who is a historian about whether to include information on Oliver Cromwell. He makes his bias against Cromwell very apparent and decides not to include a biography. Fair enough.

This is a different type of history- done by using the personalities of the dayand weavvine the history around their lives- a refreshing and successful journey

Book presumes a general knowledge of Irish history and is therefore a little hard to follow. Poorly edited: index is inaccurate, blank spaces on pages, grammatical errors. Refers to people without explaining who they are. A chatty tone makes it a fairly easy read; seems to have an anti-British, anti-Protestant bias. Not what you're looking for if you want an overview of Irish history (which I did!) Found the part about Easter Uprising of 1916 especially confusing, even though there were several bios from that era.

This book has been a fantastic way to understand the struggles and the source of pride of the Irish. As an Irish American I am always trying to understand where the strong Irish Pride comes from. This book has told the history in an intriguing way and helps shed the light on the past.

I have just started reading and it is very informative. The book was in excellent condition for being used. I wish I had known some of this info on Ireland before I visited a couple of years ago. There were some places mentioned in the book I would have liked to visit. Some of them were right in the area I was visiting but I was unaware of their significance.

This is without a doubt the best summary of Irish history I've ever seen. Very readable.