Table of Contents

Introduction – It Starts with a Bear • 1. Of Tetrapods and Volcanic Rings • 2. The Bear from Clare • 3. Neolithic Stargazers • 4. The Bell-Beakers • 5. Bog Toghers • 6. Roman Hibernia • 7. Pagan Christianity • 8. The Kingdom of Ossory • 9. The Uí Dúnlainge Kings of Leinster • 10. Sitric Silkbeard & Queen Gormflaith • 11. The Knights Templar of Ireland • 12. Rohesia’s Castle • 13. Great Scot: Edward the Bruce’s Invasion of Ireland • 14. Prince Lionel Comes to Carlow • 15. Great Pretenders & Warring Roses • 16. The Midland Shires • 17. Sir William Stanley, Public Enemy No. 1 • 18. Rise & Fall: The Maguires of Fermanagh • 19. Cromwell’s Tailor • 20. The Byerley Turk: A Warhorse on the Boyne • 21. The Lixnaw Project • 22. Joshua Dawson, Spymaster • 23. Lord Rosse & the Hell-Fire Club • 24. The Butcher’s Column • 25. Peg Plunkett, Queen of Vice • 26. The Cherokee Club • 27. The Avoca Gold Rush • 28. The Lucan Spa • 29. The Night of the Big Wind • 30. The Crimean Banquet • 31. The Prince of Wales & the Curragh Wren • 32. John Henry Foley – Sculptor of an Empire • 33. Bloody Balfour’s Kindly Deeds • 34. Queen Victoria’s Dublin Visit, 1900 • 35. Killer Gas in the Great War • 36. Operation Shamrock

Promotional Information

An original and irreverent retelling of overlooked stories from Irish history, hailed by Sebastian Barry as 'a stirring atlas of Irishness'

About the Author

Turtle Bunbury is the author of several books, including The Irish Pub. He was a co-presenter of The Genealogy Roadshow on RTÉ television, and also appeared on BBC1's Wogan's Ireland and episodes of the American and Irish versions of the 'Who Do You Think You Are?' TV series.

Reviews

'Delicious … a stirring atlas of Irishness' - Sebastian Barry, Guardian

'Marvellous … a magnificently eclectic collection' - BBC History Magazine

'Bunbury’s voice … is warm and engaging. He draws the reader in for a bit of a chat and a bit of a laugh about the eccentricities of his Irish antecedents' - Irish Examiner

'A rare and cherishable thing … Bunbury’s great skill is to illuminate the past through the picaresque activities of significant contemporary individuals. The approach is profoundly effective' - Yorkshire Times

'Corking' - The Corkman

'Fascinating' - Offaly Express

'Informative' - Wexford Today