Growing up on Long Island with two Irish-American parents was not a particularly Irish experience. Carmel Quinn records played on our stereo and were appreciated by all. My father regularly annoyed my mother by listening to bagpipe music. The truth was that my parents were American Irish who had lost contact with most of…

Large-scale migration of large groups of people as a source of the changes in language and culture in Ireland over the last 10,000 years has long been a hotly discussed topic.

Above, …

This little 138-page book taught me a lot about someone who is, arguably, one of the most important figures in Irish history. First of all, the picture of St. Patrick wearing a bishop's miter that we are all familiar with is erroneous. The Bishop's miter didn't come into use until…

Most weekends, I get up at ungodly hours and go to the local flea market to look for interesting books. I usually arrive at 7:00 a.m. or so when they are still unpacking. The dealers there bid on storage units and end up with all sorts of miscellaneous stock, among which are the books I…