"The Famine Plot," reviewed by Eamon Loingsigh (originally from bookslut.com).

Outside of Ennis, in County Clare in the west of Ireland, the wind kicks upon the hills under the same gray sky where once starved children, women and old men were buried callously, if not left by the ditches. Where the weakest of the agrarian poor were communally laid…

By Joseph E. Gannon

The Gaels in one-time British North America never quite understood the revolutionary fervor that gripped their American counterparts.

Today, nearly 400 years since they first arrived, the Irish have been nearly fully and…

She is home!! Hopefully she can rest and regain her strength. She is gravely ill,according to the family she wouldn't have lasted much longer

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0530/453662-marian-price-northern-ireland/

My father's uncle, Sgt. Lawrence Condon, died of shrapnel wounds in France two months before the Armistice ending World War I, "The War to End All Wars." His division, the U.S. Army's 27th, was known as "O'Ryan's Roughnecks." He was third generation American. One of his grandfathers was an Irwin, reputedly from Ballyjamesduff,…

(First published 1/26/12) Waterford-based poet, writer and sociologist Jean Tubridy (left) writes about her Irish experience, often in lyrical, charming terms, in her blog, Social Bridge. In the following excerpt, she describes a recent night in her home town of Tramore: “At about ten o’clock on New Year’s Eve,…

Ready for a somewhat obscure bit of celebratory news?  Did you know the Italian community in Ireland (and especially Dublin) has a long, proud history of operating some of the most established fish & chips restaurants in the country?  Yes, indeed!  In fact, the involvement of Italian immigrants in this scrumptious niche business dates all the way back to the 1880s in…

Galway City has historically been among the "most Irish" of all Irish towns/cities -- some would even argue that it would top that list.  For evidence of this, one need look no further than Galway's unofficial slogan, Croí Cultúrtha na hÉireann,…

The online availablity of core genealogy material such as census returns, births, marriages and deaths records, emigration/immigration lists, military service records etc can prove such an attractive lure to family history researchers that they often overlook the wealth of information that can be gleaned from newspapers. Although census returns and BMD data can provide the bread and butter facts needed to compile a family tree, newspapers can provide the details that flesh out a person's…

by Neil Cosgrove (First publish 1/11/12)

(Left:'Black and Tans' on the streets of Dublin, 1920)

A recent post on TheWildGeese.com’s Facebook page discussed Irish revolutionary Michael Collins’ role in the event of Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920. On that day, under Collin’s…

(First published 1/9/12) Kevin Gleeson, a talented guitarist and former portrayer of Keith Richards in Stones’ tribute bands Sticky Fingers and Beggars Banquet, is a graphic artist with the New York Police Department and a native of the borough of Queens, in New York City.  Gleeson’s heritage is steeped in both Irish music and the turbulent history of Northern…

(First published 1/9/12) Patrick Young is a blogger for Long Island Wins, a communications and organizing campaign focused on immigrants’ needs and immigration reform in Long Island, in New York State.  In his blogs, he has written extensively on the experiences of immigrants in America, including an…

(First published 12/30/11) At 70 years old, Billy Willbond is a man of many roles: a poet, decorated peacekeeping veteran, and social  activist, providing humanitarian aid to the developing world through his NGO, ICross…

(First published 12/14/11) 2011 marked the 150^th anniversary of the start of America’s Civil War, and in Ireland, a group of historians and writers used the occasion to promote the concept of a Civil War heritage trail. Archaeologist Damian Shiels and writers James Doherty and Robert Doyle  [All three…

(First published 12/2/11) Turtle Bunbury is an Irish journalist and historian, whose photo-book series “…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 26, 1706, Col. Charles O'Brien, 5th Viscount Clare, died from wounds suffered at the battle of Ramillies . O'Brien was born in 1670. He had…

"Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War," by Louis Lang

(First published 11/17/11) On 27^th July 1861, the 69th New York State Militia regiment returned home to New York, and to a hero’s welcome, after the …

(First publish 11/15/11) Mary Courtney is a Kerry-born folk artist and New York resident, and she is lead singer, guitarist and bodhran player for Morning Star [pictured below], a traditional Irish band that regularly travels between shows in the United States and Ireland.  Her music incorporates traditional Irish folk sound with a progressive social…

(First published 11/4/11) Guthrie, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, spent six years covering the parishioners’ fight.  Her book tells the story of the parish’s history, the drama of the fight to save it, and what the parishioners learned about their own…

By Robert Doyle

Dublin, Ireland (First published 10/5/11) -- “Although this is…