Shortly after the death of Martin McGuinness, I listened to a radio discussion about the Provisional IRA and its origins. Among the contributors was Ruth Dudley Edwards, the self-professed revisionist historian. At one stage in the programme, I heard her say, “I can understand why people went out on civil rights marches…

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LAUGHTER, TEARS &…

I’ve spent a lot of time this past year talking about guilt, about exile and return, and about mammies, and about the guilt mammies can instil in their offspring when said offspring return from self-imposed exile, which was usually to escape said mammy’s guilt trip in the first place. But I suppose it was to be…

Hello All,

Thank you for letting me join up. I am currently working on a sculpture bust of Thomas Francis Meagher, destined for Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn this summer.

Here is a blog that talks about the project: …

Two weeks and counting! In the event you don’t have a traditional dessert lined up for your Easter meal, you might want to think about this delicious and versatile cream cheese pound cake that’s as tasty with or without any embellishments.

The name “pound cake” comes from the rather precise recipe for a…

By Wild West Irish Tours | By Samantha Nicole Fishkind | March 13th, 2017

To stand on the lush landscape encapsulated in God’s greenhouse, overlooking wild seas and rolling fields gridlocked by ancient stones, there is a sense of nirvana no amount of urban meditation could possibly hope to achieve. Place your hopes and your feet on the old, warm earth and let yourself be carried away…

LUAIN -- Beginning on April 3 and continuing to May 8, 1781, the Irish Hibernia regiment of Spain helped lay siege to British forces in Pensacola, Florida,…

In 1961 a great Irish writer called Francis Stuart wrote a novel the like of which had not been seen before. It was entitled Black List Section H, and it didn’t find a publisher for eight years because Stuart had been banished from the literary world. In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war, he had accepted an invitation to do…

(Above: "When Wagon Trails Were Dim," Charles Russell's depiction of a wagon train in the American west.)

Many men and women with Irish roots participated in the “winning” of the West for the new nation that was growing into a…

A clean “Memory Slate,” brought to this earth,

Shining and new on the day of our birth.

A special place to chronicle and store,

Experiences formative, new and enticing.

Many of them significant to ourselves alone.

The bantam, downy and…

In the Great Hall, the attendees had begun to arrive and take their seats. King Laoghaire, already seated in his royal chair in the middle of the hall, was surrounded by his ten hand-picked individuals who attended him at all times and included a “high ranking Nobleman to be his companion; a Brehon judge to…

The more presentations I make of my book, HIMSELF, A CIVIL WAR VETERAN'S STRUGGLES WITH REBELS, BRITS, AND DEVILS, the more readers and commentators lead me to read further and think deeper. If I were to rewrite this historical novel, I would include episodes depicting how poorly received were Northern veterans upon returning home, how much they were forced to turn to one…

While carrots have a long growing season in Ireland, I generally think of them as a springtime vegetable since they’re obligatory with a St. Patrick’s Day meal of bacon and cabbage and, of course, as the favorite food of Easter bunnies! As we welcome spring today, how about a tasty recipe for Carrot Soup, one that I…

DOMHNAIGH - On March 19, 1921 Tom Barry and the West Cork Flying Column ambushed crown forces at Crossbarry, County Cork during the Irish War of Independence. The British had learned that …

The shamrock is thought by many Irish people globally, to be grown exclusively in Ireland, in Irish soil. Some sources would argue that this is a myth however and was perpetrated by entrepreneurial business people and owes more to…

I've managed to get myself to a country where there is no St. Patrick's Day Parade -- not even an Irish embassy, just an honorary consulate. I suspect March 17 will be a little quieter than I'm used to. 

I am alive and well and enjoying Amman -- and so far, Amman seems to be enjoying me.

I'm settling in --…

DEARDAOIN -- On March 16, 1828, Patrick Cleburne, one of the finest generals produced by either side during America's long, bloody civil war was born at Bride Park Cottage in Ovens Township, Co. Cork, just outside Cork City. Robert E. Lee would one day say of…

"Tinteán Tréigthe no.32", 42 x 42cm, oil painting on canvas by Eoin Mac Lochlainn, 2017

It’s Irish Language Week in Ireland this week so I've written my post in Irish. But please scroll down to read the English translation down below, if you wish. 

Tá scéailín deas agam daoibh faoin bpictiúr seo ag barr.…

Because I once lived on the western coast of Ireland, and because author Lisa Carey moved to the island of Inishbofin, off Ireland's west coast to research her first book, I've been following her career for many years. I've loved each of her four Irish-themed novels, and eagerly awaited the February 7th release of her latest, "The…