July 25

Ireland (2005)
By Frank Delaney

After a visit to Ireland in May 2010, I wanted to know more about this country of my ancestors, a place that seemed to affect me with its treeless green hills and roofless stone ruins.  What was their story?

Journalist (and storyteller) Frank Delaney tells the history of Ireland through the framework of a young boy, Ronan O'Mara, following a storyteller around the Emerald Isle.  The stories include Newgrange (a burial site much older than the Egyptian pyramids), St Patrick, St Brendan. the Battle of the Boyne, Daniel O'Connell, and all the heroes of Irish history, along with the more recent Easter  Rising of 1916 (in which the rebels surrendered - and most were executed), independence for most of the island and, more recently, The Troubles.  While Delaney takes liberties with some of the early legends, the later accounts report on actual events.  While An English Country Doctor (July 24) presents a quaint and whimsical account of Northern Ireland, Delaney's book is more of an anecdotal history of the Republic of Ireland; the storytelling framework makes for a pleasant journey (even though much of it is tragic) through Irish history.