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Foreword
Someone once remarked that ‘history is a teacher, an enlightened tutor,’ and the Irish, it is said, ‘never forget their history.’
The history/story of Ireland is one of tyranny and emancipation, a legacy characterized by foreign invasion, foreign rule, famine, emigration and a ight for Independence. It is a lengthy and continuous record of natural phenomena in which political, religious, and cul- tural divides sit close together, yet, all with a shared fondness and appreciation of the ancient alchemy and enchantment that enshrouds this “Emerald Island”.
As a result, the Irish people are blessed with a huge sense of national identity, an identity which is relected in their history, their age-old heritage, their unique traditions and the heart-beat of the Irish-their ‘dinnsheanchas’ -their ‘lore of place.’
This account will present to a general public, both national and international, a short simple history of Ireland; a signpost to the past, as it were, that will be both popular and genuine, concise but thorough, while at the same time balanced, challenging, educational and enter- taining. An easily read vehicle on which the reader will be transported by lively narrative, folklore traditions and academic historiography and supported empathetically by song and poetry, on a gripping journey down the very length of the fascinating past that has shaped the Ireland of today.
A journey which begins in the Stone Age, continues to the nineteenth century, and along the way presents both an interesting background to, and an uncomplicated insight into many of the great characters and events which have shaped this little country. A country whose scholars, missionaries, poets, musicians, and ordinary citizens, have moulded the in- tellectual life of many nations, and one whose inluence on the history and politics of the world has been disproportionately great.
It is a fact that those who call themselves Irish are wonderfully diverse in origin and there is
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