Aside from being one of the great writers of novels about the romance and adventure of Irish history, Ms. Llywelyn is a lover of all things Irish and well read in Irish fact and fiction. Her book is an instructive, opinionated, annotated list of books for anyone in America who is Irish or Irish at heart. We highly recommend this book as the foundation for any Irish library. After reading Ms. Llywelyn's reviews of each of the titles below you will know what to expect from each of the books and you will know where you want to begin building your library. Click on the book to order at a substantial savings from our associate, Amazon.com. |
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BIOGRAPHY, AND MEMOIRS Adams, Gerry - Before the Dawn Behan, Brendan - Borstal Boy Bulger, William M. - While the Music Lasts: My Life in Politics Coogan, Tim Pat - De Valera: Long Fellow, Long Shadow Coogan, Tim Pat - Michael Collins Cooke, Dennis - Persecuting Zeal: A Portrait of Ian Paisley Coote, Stephen - W. B. Yeats: A Life Cronin, Anthony - Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist Ellmann, Richard - James Joyce Ellmann, Richard - Oscar Wilde Fallon, Ivan - The Luck of O'Reilly Fingall, Elizabeth - Seventy Years Young: Memories of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall Gogarty, Oliver St. John - As I Was Going Down Sackville Street Holroyd, Michael - Bernard Shaw MacMahon, Bryan, translator - Peig McCourt, Frank - Angela's Ashes Norman, Diana - Terrible Beauty: A Life of Constance Markievicz O'Casey, Sean - Autobiographies, Vols. One and Two Synge, John Millington - The Aran Islands Wallace, Martin - 100 Irish Lives Williams, Niall and Christine Breen - The Luck of the Irish: Our Life in County Clare HISTORY Berleth, Richard - The Twilight Lords Cahill, Thomas - How the Irish Saved Civilization Coogan, Tim Pat - The Troubles Foster, R. F. - Modern Ireland 1600-1972 Herm, Gerhard - The Celts Joyce, Patrick Weston - Social History of Ancient Ireland Kenealy, Christine - This Great Calamity Macardle, Dorothy - The Irish Republic: A Documented Chronicle of the Anglo-Irish Conflict and the Partitioning of Ireland, with a Detailed Account of the Period 1916-1923 MacManus, Seumas - The Story of the Irish Race The New Gill History of Ireland, 6 Vols. Raftery, Barry - Pagan Celtic Ireland Stephens, James - The Insurrection in Dublin Woodham-Smith, Cecil - The Great Hunger HUMOR Cullen, Leo - Clocking Ninety on the Road to Cloughjordan and Other Stories Donleavy, J. P. - The Ginger Man na Gopaleen, Myles [Brian O'Nolan] - The Best of Myles IRELAND AND AMERICA Birmingham, Stephen - Real Lace: America's Irish Rich Coffey, Michael, editor, and Terry Golway - The Irish in America Conynham, Capt. D. P. - The Irish Brigade Doyle, David Noel, and Owen Dudley Edwards, editors - America and Ireland, 1776-1976 Laxton, Edward - The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America, 1846-1851 Miller, Kerby, and Paul Wagner - Out of Ireland Miller, Robert Ryal - Shamrock and Sword O'Carroll, Ide - Models for Movers: Irish Women's Emigration to America Wilson, Andrew J. - Irish America and the Ulster Conflict MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE Colum, Padraic - A Treasury of Irish Folklore Dames, Michael - Mythic Ireland Eickhoff, Randy Lee - The Raid Gantz, Jeffrey, translator - Early Irish Myths and Sagas Glassie, Henry - Irish Folk History: Texts from the North Reynolds, James - Ghosts in Irish Houses Scott, Michael - Irish Folk and Fairy Tales Omnibus Stephens, James - The Crock of Gold Yeats, W. B., and Lady Gregory - A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore NOVELS Binchy, Maeve - Light a Penny Candle Dillon, Eilis - Across the Bitter Sea Doyle, Roddy - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha du Maurier, Daphne - Hungry Hill Edgeworth, Maria - Castle Rackrent Ellis, Peter Beresford - The Rising of the Moon Flanagan, Thomas - The Year of the French Godwin, Parke - The Last Rainbow Holland, Jack - The Prisoner's Wife Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James - Ulysses Llywelyn, Morgan - 1916 McCann, Colum - This Side of Brightness Macken, Walter - Seek the Fair Land Trilogy, comprising Seek the Fair Land; The Silent People; and The Scorching Wind MacLaverty, Bernard - Grace Notes MacMahon, Bryan - The Honey Spike Marcus, David - A Land Not Theirs O'Brien, Edna - The Country Girls Trilogy and Epilogue O'Brien, Kate - The Ante-Room O'Connor, Edwin - The Last Hurrah O'Flaherty, Liam - The Black Soul O'Grady, Standish - The Bog of Stars Plunkett, James - Strumpet City Stoker, Bram - Dracula Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray POETRY Clarke Austin, edited by Hugh Maxton - Selected Poems Coady, Michael - Oven Lane Faolain, Turlough - Blood on the Harp: Irish Rebel History in Ballad Heaney, Seamus - The Spirit Level Hoagland Kathleen - 1,000 Years of Irish Poetry Kennelly, Brendan, translator and editor - Love of Ireland: Poems from the Irish Montague, John - Collected Poems of John Montague Merriman, Brian, translated by Cosslett O Cuinn - The Midnight Court Ryan, Desmond, editor - The 1916 Poets: Pearse, Plunkett, MacDonagh Yeats, William Butler, edited by Richard J. Finneran - Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats REFERENCE BOOKS Grenham, John - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Kelly, Fergus - Guide to Early Irish Law Kenner, Hugh - A Colder Eye: The Modern Irish Writers MacLysaght, Edward - Irish Families, Their Names, Arms and Origins TRAVEL AND PICTURE BOOKS Aalen, F. H. A., Kevin Whelan and Matthew Stout, editors- Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape McNeill, Thomas - Castles in Ireland: Feudal Power in a Gaelic World Marsden, Simon, with text by Duncan McLaren - In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland O'Brien, Jacqueline, with Desmond Guinness - Dublin, a Grand Tour O'Brien Jacqueline, and Peter Harbison - Ancient Ireland from Prehistory to the Middle Ages O'Donnell E. E., compiler - Father Browne's Ireland Severin, Tim - The Brendan Voyage |
"Ireland has an enviable reputation for literature. Long before Christianity introduced the written word, Ireland's Celtic bards were its living books. They were entrusted with the history and genealogy of their race, together with the wealth of folklore and mythology that had been handed down from generation to generation. On St. Patrick's Day, it is said everyone claims to be Irish. But throughout the rest of the year a growing number of Americans are tracing their Irish roots and rediscovering their heritage. The books chosen for this library have been carefully selected for that readership, as well as for anyone who loves to read. Each one of them in some way illuminates Ireland, Irish America, or the condition of being Irish. Any recommended reading list is subjective. I personally have read every book on this list, and have selected the ones I would like to put in my guestroom for a visiting Irish American friend. Imagine them lined up on bookshelves and stacked on the bedside table, waiting to give you a broad-spectrum view of this land so many love. Your bed is made up with fresh linen and a plump duvet. There is a gentle turf fire glowing on the hearth and a good reading lamp close to hand. Settle in, make yourself comfortable . . . and begin." Morgan Llywelyn |
elcome to the Murphree Homeplace library. The more you read about your Irish ancestry the more intrigued you will become with your heritage. Obviously you are interested in reading about your Irish roots or you wouldn't have stopped in here at the library. Most of our books are on loan but we can recommend no better place to start building your own Irish library than with Morgan Llywelyn's book, The Essential Library For Irish Americans (1st Edition, March, 1999.) |
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BIOGRAPHY, AND MEMOIRS Adams, Gerry - Before the Dawn Behan, Brendan - Borstal Boy Bulger, William M. - While the Music Lasts: My Life in Politics Coogan, Tim Pat - De Valera: Long Fellow, Long Shadow Coogan, Tim Pat - Michael Collins Cooke, Dennis - Persecuting Zeal: A Portrait of Ian Paisley Coote, Stephen - W. B. Yeats: A Life Cronin, Anthony - Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist Ellmann, Richard - James Joyce Ellmann, Richard - Oscar Wilde Fallon, Ivan - The Luck of O'Reilly Fingall, Elizabeth - Seventy Years Young: Memories of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall Gogarty, Oliver St. John - As I Was Going Down Sackville Street Holroyd, Michael - Bernard Shaw MacMahon, Bryan, translator - Peig McCourt, Frank - Angela's Ashes Norman, Diana - Terrible Beauty: A Life of Constance Markievicz O'Casey, Sean - Autobiographies, Vols. One and Two Synge, John Millington - The Aran Islands Wallace, Martin - 100 Irish Lives Williams, Niall and Christine Breen - The Luck of the Irish: Our Life in County Clare HISTORY Berleth, Richard - The Twilight Lords Cahill, Thomas - How the Irish Saved Civilization Coogan, Tim Pat - The Troubles Foster, R. F. - Modern Ireland 1600-1972 Herm, Gerhard - The Celts Joyce, Patrick Weston - Social History of Ancient Ireland Kenealy, Christine - This Great Calamity Macardle, Dorothy - The Irish Republic: A Documented Chronicle of the Anglo-Irish Conflict and the Partitioning of Ireland, with a Detailed Account of the Period 1916-1923 MacManus, Seumas - The Story of the Irish Race The New Gill History of Ireland, 6 Vols. Raftery, Barry - Pagan Celtic Ireland Stephens, James - The Insurrection in Dublin Woodham-Smith, Cecil - The Great Hunger HUMOR Cullen, Leo - Clocking Ninety on the Road to Cloughjordan and Other Stories Donleavy, J. P. - The Ginger Man na Gopaleen, Myles [Brian O'Nolan] - The Best of Myles IRELAND AND AMERICA Birmingham, Stephen - Real Lace: America's Irish Rich Coffey, Michael, editor, and Terry Golway - The Irish in America Conynham, Capt. D. P. - The Irish Brigade Doyle, David Noel, and Owen Dudley Edwards, editors - America and Ireland, 1776-1976 Laxton, Edward - The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to America, 1846-1851 Miller, Kerby, and Paul Wagner - Out of Ireland Miller, Robert Ryal - Shamrock and Sword O'Carroll, Ide - Models for Movers: Irish Women's Emigration to America Wilson, Andrew J. - Irish America and the Ulster Conflict MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE Colum, Padraic - A Treasury of Irish Folklore Dames, Michael - Mythic Ireland Eickhoff, Randy Lee - The Raid Gantz, Jeffrey, translator - Early Irish Myths and Sagas Glassie, Henry - Irish Folk History: Texts from the North Reynolds, James - Ghosts in Irish Houses Scott, Michael - Irish Folk and Fairy Tales Omnibus Stephens, James - The Crock of Gold Yeats, W. B., and Lady Gregory - A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore NOVELS Binchy, Maeve - Light a Penny Candle Dillon, Eilis - Across the Bitter Sea Doyle, Roddy - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha du Maurier, Daphne - Hungry Hill Edgeworth, Maria - Castle Rackrent Ellis, Peter Beresford - The Rising of the Moon Flanagan, Thomas - The Year of the French Godwin, Parke - The Last Rainbow Holland, Jack - The Prisoner's Wife Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James - Ulysses Llywelyn, Morgan - 1916 McCann, Colum - This Side of Brightness Macken, Walter - Seek the Fair Land Trilogy, comprising Seek the Fair Land; The Silent People; and The Scorching Wind MacLaverty, Bernard - Grace Notes MacMahon, Bryan - The Honey Spike Marcus, David - A Land Not Theirs O'Brien, Edna - The Country Girls Trilogy and Epilogue O'Brien, Kate - The Ante-Room O'Connor, Edwin - The Last Hurrah O'Flaherty, Liam - The Black Soul O'Grady, Standish - The Bog of Stars Plunkett, James - Strumpet City Stoker, Bram - Dracula Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray POETRY Clarke Austin, edited by Hugh Maxton - Selected Poems Coady, Michael - Oven Lane Faolain, Turlough - Blood on the Harp: Irish Rebel History in Ballad Heaney, Seamus - The Spirit Level Hoagland Kathleen - 1,000 Years of Irish Poetry Kennelly, Brendan, translator and editor - Love of Ireland: Poems from the Irish Montague, John - Collected Poems of John Montague Merriman, Brian, translated by Cosslett O Cuinn - The Midnight Court Ryan, Desmond, editor - The 1916 Poets: Pearse, Plunkett, MacDonagh Yeats, William Butler, edited by Richard J. Finneran - Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats REFERENCE BOOKS Grenham, John - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Kelly, Fergus - Guide to Early Irish Law Kenner, Hugh - A Colder Eye: The Modern Irish Writers MacLysaght, Edward - Irish Families, Their Names, Arms and Origins TRAVEL AND PICTURE BOOKS Aalen, F. H. A., Kevin Whelan and Matthew Stout, editors- Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape McNeill, Thomas - Castles in Ireland: Feudal Power in a Gaelic World Marsden, Simon, with text by Duncan McLaren - In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland O'Brien, Jacqueline, with Desmond Guinness - Dublin, a Grand Tour O'Brien Jacqueline, and Peter Harbison - Ancient Ireland from Prehistory to the Middle Ages O'Donnell E. E., compiler - Father Browne's Ireland Severin, Tim - The Brendan Voyage |
Aside from being one of the great writers of novels about the romance and adventure of Irish history, Ms. Llywelyn is a lover of all things Irish and well read in Irish fact and fiction. Her book is an instructive, opinionated, annotated list of books for anyone in America who is Irish or Irish at heart. We highly recommend this book as the foundation for any Irish library. After reading Ms. Llywelyn's reviews of each of the titles below you will know what to expect from each of the books and you will know where you want to begin building your library. Click on the book to order at a substantial savings from our associate, Amazon.com. |
Excerpts From Morgan Llywelyn's Introduction to The Essential Library For Irish Americans |
Reviews |
For other reviews and more information on individual titles, click on the book links where available. Some titles are out of print but well worth the search. We will be adding links to books as reprints become available. |
Updated 2 November, 2002
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