Well now, have you heard about how the Irish fought for Alexander the Great? Or did you know that at one time the Irish were forbidden to wear trousers? Perhaps you don't know why the Irish revere John Paul Jones or how Jack the Ripper influenced Irish 'Invincibles'. Ah then, there's many a strange tale and capricious truth hidden in the history and lore of the Green Isle that will surprise and quicken your Irish blood, whether it's a pint or only a drop! This book, with 101 curious, delightful, ironic and even outrageous tales from the Emerald Isle, is a must-have for every Irish-interest library. Illustrated throughout.
Helen Walsh Folsom has been a newspaper columnist and has written feature articles for a variety of national and international magazines before focusing on her passion for Irish history and folklore.
When resigning from her position as Executive Director of a civic organization in 1995 where she worked for ten years, Helen knew what she wanted to do.
"I knew I wanted to write full-time," she says, "but I didn't know what I could be expert enough to write about. So I thought about the one subject that I could never burn out on and never get tired of researching was Ireland and all things Irish."
Helen also has went on to say that "I grew up with Irish-American movies and music that gave me a love of the Irish color and character and how it has influenced America."
A lifelong resident of Kansas City, Kansas, where her Irish Great-Grandmother, Lizzie Walsh, settled after her family fled the Famine in 1849, Helen lives in a deep, wooded valley near the Missouri River, a place where foxes and deer and raccoons are very welcome to share her acres.
