The Bookshelf
The works and references cited, quoted and utilized throughout the extensive collection of scriptures, writings, articles, essays, and treatise represented on RealityRoars.com
Ireland has rarely been out of the news during the past thirty years. Whether as a war-zone in which Catholic nationalists and Protestant Unionists struggled for supremacy, a case study in conflict resolution or an economy that for a time promised to make the Irish among the wealthiest people on the planet, the two Irelands have truly captured the world's imagination. Yet single-volume histories of Ireland are rare. Here, Thomas Bartlett, one of the country’s leading historians, sets out a fascinating new history that ranges from prehistory to the present. Integrating politics, society and culture, he offers an authoritative historical road map that shows exactly how - and why - Ireland, north and south, arrived at where it is today. This is an indispensable guide to both the legacies of the past for Ireland's present and to the problems confronting north and south in the contemporary world.
About the Author
Thomas Bartlett is Professor of Irish History at the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen. His previous publications include The Fall and Rise of the Irish Nation: The Catholic Question, 1690–1830 (1992), A Military History of Ireland (1996, with Keith Jeffery) and Revolutionary Dublin: The Letters of Francis Higgins to Dublin Castle, 1795–1801 (2004).
Paperback: 641 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (August 15, 2011)
This engaging book traces the history, archaeology, and legends of ancient Ireland from 9000 B.C., when nomadic hunter-gatherers appeared in Ireland at the end of the last Ice Age to 1167 A.D., when a Norman invasion brought the country under control of the English crown for the first time. So much of what people today accept as ancient Irish history—Celtic invaders from Europe turning Ireland into a Celtic nation; St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland and converting its people to Christianity—is myth and legend with little basis in reality. The truth is more interesting. The Irish, as the authors show, are not even Celtic in an archaeological sense. And there were plenty of bishops in Ireland before a British missionary called Patrick arrived. But In Search of Ancient Ireland is not simply the story of events from long ago. Across Ireland today are festivals, places, and folk customs that provide a tangible link to events thousands of years past. The authors visit and describe many of these places and festivals, talking to a wide variety of historians, scholars, poets, and storytellers in the very settings where history happened. Thus the book is also a journey on the ground to uncover ten thousand years of Irish identity. In Search of Ancient Ireland is the official companion to the three-part PBS documentary series. With 14 black-and-white photos, 6 b&w illustrations, and 1 map.
About the Author
Carmel McCaffrey lectures on Irish history, literature, culture, and language at Johns Hopkins University. A native of Dublin, she founded the literary review Wild About Wilde. She has also written In Search of Ireland's Heroes. She is a Gaelic speaker and frequently travels back to Ireland. She lives in Mt. Airy, Maryland.
Leo Eaton has produced, written, and directed television and film in Europe and the United States for thirty years and has received many of television's major awards. London-born, he lives in New Windsor, Maryland.
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee; Reprint edition (June 11, 2003)
The Oxford Companion to Irish History (Oxford Quick Reference)
'A companion to be cherished', 'judicious and authoritative', 'informative and entertaining', an 'invaluable work of reference' - these are just some of the phrases used by reviewers to describe the Oxford Companion to Irish History.
The history of Ireland has long been at the epicentre of political and academic debate. Interest in Irish culture, politics, and society, both ancient and modern, never seems to falter, not only in scholarly circles but also among the general public.
With over 1,800 entries, this Companion - now available in the Oxford Paperback Reference series - offers a comprehensive and authoritative guide to all aspects of Ireland's past from earliest times to the present day. There is coverage not only of leading political figures, organizations, and events but also of subjects such as dress, music, sport, and diet. Traditional topics such as the rebellion of 1798 and the Irish Civil War sit alongside entries on newly developing areas such as women's history and popular culture.
In addition to A-Z entries the Companion includes a section of maps showing the shape of modern Ireland, post-reformation ecclesiastical divisions in Ireland, political divisions circa 800, Ireland circa 1350, Ireland in the late 15th century, and the pattern of transport and communications in Ireland. There is also a subject index, which groups headwords into thematic batches to provide an alternative way to access the entries.
The Oxford Companion to Irish History is invaluable to students as a work of general reference and to the general public with an interest in the history and culture of Ireland. It also appeals to academics both for the longer analytical entries and as a source of reference for topics outside their immediate area of expertise.
About the Author
Sean Connolly is Professor of Irish History at the School of History and Anthropology, Queen's University, Belfast. His previous posts have included Archivist at the Public Record Office of Ireland, Lecturer at St Patrick's College, Dublin, and Lecturer and later Reader in History at the University of Ulster. He is the author and editor of a number of titles.
Paperback: 672 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 2nd ed. edition (April 8, 2011)
Magic of the Celtic Otherworld: Irish History, Lore & Rituals
Explore a marvelous world of glamoury: the Celtic Otherworld of shadow and Sidhe, a realm where everything that ever was, is, or will be, exists right now. The Celts had a life-affirming, mystical way of viewing and living life, in tune with the forces of Nature and magic. Drawing upon Irish Celtic spiritual tradition, history, literature, and myth, this tried and true guidebook (formerly titled Glamoury,) offers a holistic system that will help you reconnect with this enchanting realm―the Green World of the Celts.
Magic of the Celtic Otherworld presents techniques for becoming attuned to the life forces of the Green World through seasonal rituals, visualizations, and practical magical workings. Learn how to find your way around the Otherworld, and gain an understanding of how each of us constantly shapes and affects the land on which we live. Most importantly, discover how to make contact with inhabitants of the Otherworld in order to deepen your spiritual practice and enrich your everyday life.
About the Author
Steve Blamires was born in Ayr, Scotland, and is one of the foremost Celtic scholars in the world. He is a co-founder of The Company of Avalon, a working magical group offering an in-depth training in the Western Mystery Tradition. He leads spiritual tours to many of the sacred sites of Northern Europe. He has written numerous articles for publications in both the U.K. and U.S. He is the author of the book Celtic Tree Mysteries: Practical Druid Magic & Divination.
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; Illustrated edition (January 8, 2005)
The Course of Irish History, Fifth Edition
First published over forty years ago and now updated to cover the “Celtic Tiger” economic boom of the 2000s and subsequent worldwide recession, this new edition of a perennial bestseller interprets Irish history as a whole. Designed and written to be popular and authoritative, critical and balanced, it has been a core text in both Irish and American universities for decades. It has also proven to be an extremely popular book for casual readers with an interest in history and Irish affairs. Considered the definitive history among the Irish themselves, it is an essential text for anyone interested in the history of Ireland.
About the Author
The late T.W. Moody (1907 - 1984) was, for many years, professor of modern history at Trinity College, Dublin.
F.X. Martin (1923 - 2000) was Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University College, Dublin.
Dermot Keogh is Emeritus Professor of History and Emeritus Professor of European Integration Studies, University College Cork.
Patrick Kiely is the Online Learning Development and Delivery Coordinator, Teaching & Learning, University College Cork. From 2008 to 2011, he was a Research Fellow in Irish Diplomatic History under the auspices of the Irish National Institute for Historical Research, School of History, UCC.
Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Roberts Rinehart; Fifth edition (September 16, 2012)
Civilization One: The World is Not as You Thought It Was
There must have been a Civilization One: a highly advanced precursor to the earliest recognized civilization. That's the conclusion reached in this fascinating book. Christopher Knight and Alan Butler began with a quest to crack the mystery of the ancient “megalithic yard”-a precise unit of measurement based on the motions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. It seems beyond the comprehension of the supposedly unsophisticated people of Stone Age Britain, and yet the measurement kept appearing in ancient structures. The authors' breakthrough discovery goes far beyond the idea of prehistory, and has far-reaching theological ramifications.
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Watkins; 1st edition (August 3, 2010)
America B.C.: Ancient Settlers in the New World
CBS' 60 Minutes program of 9/15/02: KENNEWICK MAN -- the discovery of a 9000-year-old skeleton - not only seriously questions the notion that Indians inhabited America first but is causing an old-fashioned science-versus-religion battle. While scientists are fighting for the right to study the bones Indians say their religion requires they be buried immediately - so reports 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl ... America B.C.(Barry Fell) was uncovering this some 27 years ago! When Barry Fell's AMERICA B.C. first exploded on the literary scene it was acclaimed by critics as "...The first major work to penetrate the mysteries of ancient European inhabitants in America" and its support has grown even stronger over the years. It has long been taken for granted that the first European visitors to American shores either sailed with Columbus in 1492 or with Norseman like Lief Erickson a full five centuries earlier. But the history of our land before that date has so far remained lost in native Indian legends.
Now Harvard professor Barry Fell has uncovered evidence to replace those legends with myth-shattering fact. With illuminating text and over 100 pictures, he describes ancient European temple inscriptions from New England and the Midwest date as far back as 800 B.C. He examines the phallic and other sexually oriented structures, found in our own country, that reveal the beliefs of ancient Celtic fertility cults - cults that were virtually destroyed in Europe in early Christian times. Further evidence has been found in the tombs of kings and chiefs, in the form of steles - written testimonies of grief carved in stone.
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books; First Edition (December 3, 1984)
A text dealing with the environments of the world.
Hardcover: 417 pages
Publisher: Harper & Row; 1st Edition (January 1, 1974)
Based on recent archaeological discoveries, this study explores the theory that Bronze-Age Swedes visited North America around the St. Lawrence River and that some Nordics migrated west, intermarrying with the Dakota tribes to form the Sioux nation.
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Little Brown & Co; 1st edition (June 1, 1982)
Dr. Barry Fell, an Emeritus Professor at Harvard, documents trans-Atlantic Old World incursions into America with much fresh evidence of Libyan, Carthaginian, Celtic, Greek, Roman, and Viking presences on the east coast. But even more extraordinary is his documentation of Pre-Columbian Europeans in the far west. B&W illustrations and photographs.
Hardcover: 425 pages
Publisher: Times Books; 1st edition (July 1, 1980)
A West Virginia Archaeologist's Discoveries
Paperback: 79 pages
Publisher: Cannon Graphics; First Edition (June 1, 1991)
Presents evidence indicating the early settlement of regions of North America by Celts, Iberians, Basques, Phoenicians, Libyans, and Egyptians
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Pocket; Revised edition (June 1, 1989)
New Essays on Human Understanding
Challenging Locke's views in Essays on Human Understanding chapter by chapter, Leibniz's references to his contemporaries and his discussion of the ideas and institutions of the age make this work a fascinating and valuable document in the history of ideas.
This is an abridgement of the complete translation of the New Essays, first published in 1981, designed for use as a study text. The material extraneous to philosophy - more than a third of the original - and the glossary of notes have been cut and a philosophical introduction and bibliography of work on Leibniz have been provided by the translators. The marginal pagination has been retained for ease of cross-reference to the full edition. The work itself is an acknowledged philosophical classic, in which Leibniz argues point by point with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding. The result is the single most important confrontation between the philosophical traditions of rationalism and empiricism. It makes an extremely suitable focus for the study of Leibniz's thought and of those two traditions in relation to one another.
Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (November 13, 1996)
One of the 17th century's most important thinkers, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz exercised enormous influence on the philosophy of Herder, Feuerbach, and Hegel as well as on the writings of Schiller and Goethe. Two of Leibniz's most studied and often quoted works appear in this volume: Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology.
Published in 1686, the Discourse on Metaphysics consists of Leibniz's expansion of a letter to his theologian friend Antoine Arnauld, in which he explains that through our perceptions we express the rest of the universe from our own unique perspectives. The whole world is thus contained in each individual substance as each represents the same universe and "the universe is in a way multiplied as many times as there are substances, and similarly the glory of God is redoubled by as many completely different representations of His work." It is here that Leibniz makes his famous assertion that God, with perfect knowledge and goodness, freely chose to create this, the best of all possible worlds.
The Monadology, written in 1714, offers a concise synopsis of Leibniz's philosophy. It establishes the laws of final causes, which underlie God's free choice to create the best possible world — a world that serves as dynamic and perfectly ordered evidence of the wisdom, power, and benevolence of its creator.
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications (July 26, 2005)
Although Leibniz's writing forms an enormous corpus, no single work stands as a canonical expression of his whole philosophy. In addition, the wide range of Leibniz's work--letters, published papers, and fragments on a variety of philosophical, religious, mathematical, and scientific questions over a fifty-year period--heightens the challenge of preparing an edition of his writings in English translation from the French and Latin.
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company; 1st edition (March 15, 1989)
