Books about Ireland that don’t mention leprechauns, Guinness or shamrocks (well, maybe a shamrock or two)

by Kathleen McDonnell
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9 books
My newest book is inspired by my 100% Irish ancestry and tells the life story of my great-grandmother, who was a survivor of the Great Famine of the mid-1800s. Most of my reading in the past few years has been Ireland-focused, past and present, and I’ll share here some of the best books I’ve come across.
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We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland

Fintan O'Toole, 2022
The subtitle of the book says it all, with the emphasis on contemporary Ireland, free of the stereotypes so many have about the “Emerald Isle.” Fintan O’Toole not only has the most Irish name ever, but is a supremely gifted writer and journalist with the Irish Times.

Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe, 2019
Everything you ever wanted to know (or maybe not – it’s an awfully grim tale) about the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. A gripping true-crime story about the great political/religious divide in Ireland, chosen as one of the top 20 books of the twenty-first century by the New York Times.

The Mountain of the Women

Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour
Liam Clancy, 2002
Liam Clancy (of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem) grew up in an Irish Catholic family of nine kids (just like I did!). This memoir is his personalized history of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the fifties and sixties, documenting how the music of his culture leapt from the peat bogs and pubs into the world music mainstream.

Bright Star of the West

Joe Heaney, Irish Song Man
Sean Williams, Lillis ? Laoire, 2011
For those who want to go deeper into the Irish musical tradition, this is a fascinating biography of a great singer and uncompromising song-keeper who refused to adapt to the demands of the commercial music marketplace. There’s a great story of how Joe Heaney went from working as an Upper West Side doorman in New York to singing on the Merv Griffin Show.

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger: Or an Excursion Through Ireland, in 1844 & 1845, for the Purpose of Personally Investigating the Condition of the P

Asenath Nicholson, 2017
In 1844, American missionary Asenath Nicholson embarked on a remarkable journey to “investigate the condition of the Irish poor.” She covered hundreds of miles, mostly on foot, and was amazed by the generosity she encountered in the poorest homes, sharing meals that consisted almost exclusively of potatoes – which, in less than a year, would be wiped out by a blight that triggered what is known as “the Great Hunger.” She even returned at the height of the famine three years later to assist in relief efforts and wrote a second book called Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

The Great Hunger

Ireland: 1845-1849
Cecil Woodham-Smith, 1992
Since we’re on the subject, this book published in the early sixties was the first comprehensive examination of the Famine in the modern era. Historian Woodham-Smith was influential in her contention that the actions (and non-actions) of the English government were largely to blame for the starvation deaths of more than a million Irish peasants between 1845 and 1849.

How the Irish Saved Civilization

Thomas Cahill, 2010
They really did save Western civilization, at any rate. This influential and entertaining work of popular history makes the case that it was Irish monks who got us through the so-called Dark Ages by preserving and copying the works of classical Greece and Rome.

Are You Somebody?

The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman
Nuala O'Faolain, 1999
I began this list with a memoir by a male writer and end with another memoir by a woman who was one of the best-known figures in Irish journalism.

Growing Old, Going Cold

Notes on Swimming, Aging, and Finishing Last
Kathleen McDonnell, 2022
Tooting my own horn here, but my most recent book really does fit the Irish theme. I recount some of my swimming adventures on my various trips to Ireland – most notably in the annual Liffey Swim in which hundreds swim right through the centre of Dublin city. I’ve discovered that my love (as opposed to mere tolerance) of swimming in cold water has a genetic component – the Irish are among the most daring, enthusiastic cold-water swimmers in the world.