Donal Donnelly
Author
Series
Hinges of history volume 1
Language
English
Description
"From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne -- the "dark ages" -- learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of Western civilization -- from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works -- would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of the unconquered Ireland. In this delightful and illuminating look into a crucial but little-known "hinge" of history, Thomas...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
A masterpiece of Enlightenment-era literature, this collection of brief, incisive essays constitutes a thought-provoking analysis of eighteenth-century social and religious conventions. Voltaire intended to entertain as well as to enlighten, and his sardonic wit lends a strikingly modern feeling to these writings. One of France's most celebrated citizens, Voltaire (1694-1778) is best known for his satirical novel Candide. His political treatises,...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
In 1898 John Millington Synge made his first of many trips to the Aran Islands in an attempt to record and archive the tales, poems and songs of the three western islands off of the Galway coast. The memoir he kept of his time their makes up this book, awash with stories of the wonderful characters he met along the way and all their anecdotes. He manages to capture a the way of life that is long since gone and it is lucky for us that he took the time...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
"The Crock of Gold" by James Stephens is a whimsical and enchanting tale that weaves together elements of mythology, folklore, and philosophy. Set in the mystical world of Irish mythology, the story follows the adventures of a leprechaun named Pat, who embarks on a quest to find the elusive Crock of Gold.
Pat's journey takes him through a series of fantastical encounters with colorful characters, including fairies, giants, and talking animals. Along...
10) Amateur Emigrant
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
In this travel memoir, Stevenson recounts his trip from Scotland to California. He travels by ship to America in order to see his ill ex-wife. His vivid descriptions of life aboard ship during a time when many were immigrating to America, as well as his view of Americans themselves, make for an exciting work.
11) The Dork of Cork
Author
Publisher
Recorded Books, Inc
Pub. Date
2016
Language
English
Description
Frank Bois is 43 years old and 43 inches tall, but his yearnings are as wide and deep as the night sky he contemplates from his rooftop in Cork, Ireland. The Dork of Cork is his story, a fictional autobiography that captures the emotions of the listener from its provocative opening line to its surprising, but touching, ending. With intelligence and vision that rises far above his diminutive size, Frank shares his engaging meditations on beauty: in...
12) Candide
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds".
Candide is characterised by its...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
The trial and condemnation of Socrates (469-399 B.C.) is one of the most tragic episodes in the history of Athens' decline. Plato, Socrates' most devoted disciple, has preserved for us the essence of the teaching and logical system of question-and-answer of western civilization's purest intellect in this sequence of four works: Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.
14) Ulysses
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety in Paris by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, Joyce's 40th birthday. It is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature, and has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement". According to Declan Kiberd,...
15) The Dead (1987)
Author
Language
English
Description
A young couple in early 1900s Dublin, are enjoying a holiday party when the wife begins to have poignant memories of a deceased former love, and the revelation causes her husband to see his life and the whole world in a new light.