In 1770, Oliver Goldsmith wrote: "The last variety, and the most wonderful of all that I shall mention, is the great Irish wolf-dog, that may be considered as the first of the canine species...Nevertheless, he is extremely beautiful and majestic in appearance, begin the greatest of the dog kind to be seen in the world." This ancient native Irish breed, although noted in … [Read more...] about The Irish Wolfhound
2005
The Troubled Life of Maeve Brennan
In her new biography of Maeve Brennan, Angela Bourke includes two photographs taken around 1948. In one, Brennan, a delicate-looking young woman dressed in black, is sitting in front of the fire looking over her shoulder, a cigarette in her left hand. With her hair fixed tightly in a bun and her lips pursed, she looks like a fashion model. In another photo from the same shoot, … [Read more...] about The Troubled Life of Maeve Brennan
The Troubled Life of Maeve Brennan
In her new biography of Maeve Brennan, Angela Bourke includes two photographs taken around 1948. In one, Brennan, a delicate-looking young woman dressed in black, is sitting in front of the fire looking over her shoulder, a cigarette in her left hand. With her hair fixed tightly in a bun and her lips pursed, she looks like a fashion model. In another photo from the same shoot, … [Read more...] about The Troubled Life of Maeve Brennan
Paddy Whacked
T.J. English didn't quite know what to expect when he went up to Boston earlier this year to promote his eye-opening new book, Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. "Boston is the one place where this story is still a contemporary story, because of South Boston and the way Irish-American culture has been preserved in South Boston like no place else," … [Read more...] about Paddy Whacked
Omagh
Gerard McSorley was traveling the day a bomb shook the foundations of Omagh -- his hometown. He was returning to Dublin, where he was living at the time, and his sister, who was in London struggling to piece together the events of the day, was frantic to reach him. On entering his house, he answered the phone to his sister's hysterics. Images of bodies and general confusion … [Read more...] about Omagh