Eyewitness to Irish History

Through sources ranging from ancient forsundun (praise songs) and the hero kings to newspaper accounts, public decrees, and even graffiti, this book offers vivid portraits of major events and everyday life in Ireland through the centuries-beginning with Golamh, the legendary leader of the band of Iberian Celts who settled the island more than three thousand years ago, and concluding with gripping accounts by those on both sides of the bloody civil conflict in Northern Ireland.

PETER BERRESFORD ELLIS, from an old Cork family, took his degrees in Celtic Studies and was recently acclaimed as "the pre-eminent Celtic Scholar now writing" (Times Educational Supplement). As well as his popular books on the ancient Celts, he is the author of many notable Irish histories, including History of the Irish Working Class; Hell or Connaught!: The Cromwellian Colonization of Ireland 1652—1660; The Boyne Water: The Battle of the Boyne, 1690; A Dictionary of Irish Mythology; and Erin’s Blood Royal. Under his own name he was the author of a bestselling novel The Rising of the Moon, about the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s 1866 attempt to invade Canada. Under the pseudonym of Peter Tremayne, he is best known for his internationally bestselling Sister Fidelma mystery series set in seventh- century Ireland. He lives in London.