Everything Irish : The History, Literature, Art, Music, People, and Places of Ireland from A-Z

Rating:
Summary: Good for the casual reader, but lacking any real depth.
Review: I picked up a copy of "Everything Irish" from a local discount book store for $6.99 (USD), and that price seems about accurate for a book this disappointing. Although intended to be a basic encyclopedia of Ireland, "Everything Irish" continually leaves you wanting so much more that it seems almost too simple even for the most carefree reading.

The entry on the Troubles, which is listed as the "Northern Ireland conflict", is one of the longer entries with approximately 1 1/2 pages (not front and back) of information. However, it's such a brief overview that even a casual follower of Irish politics over the past few decades will wonder why the Troubles occurred in the first place, as well as how the events affected Northern Ireland and its people. In what becomes a recurring trend throughout "Everything Irish", these are questions that the reader will be asking but which are never fully answered by the book.

As far as the Irish saints are concerned, Brigid, Colm Cille (Columba), and Brendan are hardly covered, and with the entry on Brendan being particularly noteworthy (in a negative sense) for having just one paragraph of brief information. The article on Patrick propagates the myth that he drove "the snakes" out of Ireland, without clarifying that virtually all historians believe the "snakes" stood for pagans and pagan beliefs.

This glaring error could be chalked up to the fact that the writers, Lelia Ruckenstein and James A. O'Malley, don't seem to be historians at all, with the jacket saying that Ruckenstein is a book reviewer and O'Malley's a lawyer who sits on the board of a theatre company. These hardly seem to be qualifications for writing a non-fiction reference work, though they do explain how such a mistake could end up in a book on Irish history. Seeing as the writers could have read just about any other book on Irish history to learn how wrong their statement is, it's amazing that it somehow worked its way in.

For a supposed reference work, it also contains much opinion, including a line asserting that the mission of Palladius (who is given a paragraph even shorter than Brendan's) "has been largely overshadowed by, and subsumed into, that of Patrick, though is his groundbreaking work made him equally deserving of the title saint". While that may be true, it is in no way appropriate for a reference work, and also is not backed up in any way considering the complete lack of information on the man.

Rather than using the usual "See also..." method for cross-referencing, entries are tied together using asterisks before words within the articles. For example, the article on the Dubliners has a line saying that they became a band at "O'Donoghue's music bar in *Dublin". This asterisk does not mean that the article on Dublin contains any information on the Dubliners; rather, it simply shows that an article on Dublin exists. While this method certainly saves space on the pages, it can become particularly annoying the more you read, especially since you never know whether you're actually supposed to turn to the referenced article or not.

Additionally, no references are ever given, nor is there a bibliography. The only sources of any sort listed are for the images, of which there are few. Readers will find themselves sorely missing them, since the entries are so short that they'll want to go somewhere else for information.

"Everything Irish" does have some positive points. Not all entries are completely lacking, with the ones on subjects like James Joyce, the Irish Free State, and partion having some fair length to them. It typically uses traditional Irish spellings, though readers unfamiliar with the language will be sorry to see there are no pronunciation guides. While the book obviously has a pro-Irish stance, it generally stays neutral on political issues. There's also a very nice timeline at the end of the book that covers events from 7000 B.C. to 2002 A.D., though you can't help but notice how few of the events mentioned are discussed in the book.

In short, "Everything Irish" is a fair book for the casual reader looking for a no-frills starting point, but even the most uninformed regarding Ireland and its history will be left wondering if they've actually learned much of anything. It's certainly not the type of book you'd want to look up information in if you're writing a paper or book yourself. If you're looking for nothing more than the most basic information available, however, this book is perfect for you, which is why I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 2.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource!
Review: I was doing research on Ireland for my current novel and ran across this book. It contains all the information I needed and a whole lot more. This book is a great resource for anyone searching for information about Ireland or the important people from this country.

470 pages of info.

See ya next review!
www.therunninggirl.com

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource!
Review: I was doing research on Ireland for my current novel and ran across this book. It contains all the information I needed and a whole lot more. This book is a great resource for anyone searching for information about Ireland or the important people from this country.

470 pages of info.

See ya next review!
www.therunninggirl.com

Rating:
Summary: Uninformed
Review: This book is a typical example of why amatures should not jump into Irish history. The authors obviously used secondary sources quite extensively and are not in touch with current Irish scholarship on many issues - the myths surrounding St. Patrick and why and how these myths developed is only one case in point. They do not seem to know much about Irish history of any century - the Northern Ireland issue seems to remain a mystery for them giving only a very superficial view and no information of WHY the situation occurred in the first place. I teach Irish history. I do not recommend this book.