If I could be dropped anywhere in Ireland with my camera and lenses, I’d choose the region of Munster nearly every time. The spectacular cliffs on the coast of Clare, the wild headlands of the Kingdom of Kerry – the landscape is rugged and the coastline endless. But photography is so much about light, and isn’t the weather still … well, Irish? And yet, if photography were … [Read more...] about The Light of Munster
Brían Boru’s Last Battle
A thousand years ago, on April 23, 1014, the Battle of Clontarf, and Brían Boru’s last costly victory, changed Irish political life forever. The following, from The Story of the Irish Race by Seumas MacManus, sets the scene in Ireland prior to the battle. The SettingIrish literature of a thousand years ago is obsessed with the occupation of Ireland by the Norse (also … [Read more...] about Brían Boru’s Last Battle
The Battle of Clontarf: Millennium Celebrations
Vikings, mercenary warriors, and competing clans made up the terrifying cast in one of Ireland’s oldest and best-known battles. All of these different elements will once again play their part in the many events taking place to commemorate the 1000-year anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf and the death of Ireland’s last great High King, Brían Boru. There are events taking … [Read more...] about The Battle of Clontarf: Millennium Celebrations
Normandy
By John Fay, Contributor
An Irish American takes a family trip to Normandy’s WWII battle site. June marks the anniversary of the D-Day landings when the United States and her allies, primarily Britain and Canada, launched the air and sea assault on Nazi-occupied France that marked the beginning of the long eastward march to Berlin and the end of the Second World War. Starting on June 6, 1944, thousands … [Read more...] about Normandy
The Orphan Trains
Over 250,000 children were transported from New York to the Midwest over a 75-year period (1854-1929) in the largest mass migration of children in American history. As many as one in four were Irish. Life in the 19th century in New York City could be brutal for a child. A magnet to immigrants in search of work, it was also a haven for alcoholics, drug addicts, thieves and … [Read more...] about The Orphan Trains