Irish American

A rare collection of vintage radio dramas from the renowned Ulster poet, plus bonus documentary Born in Belfast in 1907, Louis MacNeice wrote some of the most beautiful and best-loved poetry of the 20th century. But he was also one of the BBC’s most innovative writers and producers, scripting...

More than forty million Americans claim Irish ancestry. This lively illustrated book, divided into parts exploring myths, legends, and folktales, explains for the U.S. audience the importance of storytelling in Irish culture in particular. In ancient Ireland, a good storyteller was so valued that he would be a member of the aos dána, the bards, and would be welcomed into every village because he came bearing tales.

Won by the Sword describes the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War (1640s) recounting the years after the deaths of generals Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein when France took the lead in the struggle. The appointment of young Hector Campbell, orphaned son of a Scottish captain, as an aide in the household of the French General Turenne marks the beginning of a series of adventures that includes battles, captures and escapes, a meeting with Mazarin, and high honors and awards for his prowess and bravery in battle.

It tells the tale of Frank Gresham and Mary Thorne, a couple intent on marriage despite their conflicting social backgrounds. Frank is engaged in a fierce battle with his family as his mother vehemently opposes the marriage and pushes him to marry a wealthy heiress; however, Frank shuns her attempts and is determined to accept Mary on her own terms.

One of the great overlooked voices of modern Irish literature, once hailed as “magnificent” by The New York Times, Mary Lavin’s fiction is now being revived for a new generation of readers in this definitive volume, selected and introduced by Colm Tóibín. During her lifetime, Irish...

Three tales from The Canterbury Tales, read in the original Middle English by Richard Bebb under the direction of Britain's foremost Chaucer scholar, Derek Brewer.

Робинзон Крузо - это даже не книга и не персонаж, а нечто большее: человек-миф, от века к веку он существует, обрастая легендами. Перед нами жизнь сильного человека; пример человеческих возможностей, концентрации духовных и физических сил.

"David Copperfield" ou L'Histoire, les aventures et l'expérience personnelles de David Copperfield le jeune a paru en 1850 sous forme de feuilleton illustré. Orphelin de père, le jeune garçon rebelle sera séparé de sa mère pour l'internat puis envoyé à l'usine et laissé à lui-même mais ses péripéties l'amènent à faire la rencontre de personnages hauts en couleur et à vivre des aventures pleines de rebondissements. À la fois tragique, humoristique, truffée d'anecdotes et très vivante, l'épopée du héros rencontrera un vif succès dès sa parution.

À Fordham, par une nuit d'hiver, Ruth, la jeune apprentie de Mrs Mason n'a pas le temps de s'ennuyer : demain, c'est le grand bal de la ville et toutes les couturières sont mobilisées ! Choisie pour sa beauté, elle se tiendra dans le vestibule de la salle de bal afin de réparer les accrocs aux robes des danseuses et fera la connaissance de M. Bellingham. Ils sympathisent puis naît une relation qui vaut à Ruth d'être congédiée. Malgré le jugement de la société, ils passent des jours heureux dans le pays de Galles.

From New York Times reporter and Pulitzer finalist Ali Watkins, the long-buried story of how a group of Philadelphia gunrunners armed the IRA at the height of the Troubles—a true-crime saga that illuminates Irish America’s central role in the conflict and its legacy. Northern Ireland, 1975...

"The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in 8 Fits" is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. It describes with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature. The poem borrows occasionally from Carroll's short poem "Jabberwocky" in "Through the Looking Glass" (especially the poem's creatures and portmanteau words), but it is a stand-alone work, first published in 1876 by Macmillan.

In 1867, 40 Irish American freedom fighters, outfitted with guns and ammunition, sailed to Ireland to join the effort to end British rule. Yet they never got a chance to fight. British authorities arrested them for treason as soon as they landed, sparking an international conflict that dragged the United States and Britain to the brink of war.

Leo Vincey is haunted by a goddess. In a nighttime vision, she appears to him, revealing her location deep in the mountains of Central Asia. Determined to discover his lost love, he searches for 16 years, finally discovering a lost civilization, ruled by an ambitious queen of unearthly beauty. Could this be his Ayesha reborn? And if so, will the secret of immortality bind them together for eternity?

Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic—written in time for the 1843 holiday season—sold out its initial printing of 6,000 copies in one day. It remains Dickens’ most widely read and best-loved work, guaranteed to warm and uplift with the simplicity of its message and the depth of its honest truths. Bah! Humbug! It’s Christmas Eve and miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is in a foul temper—good cheer and joyful spending turn his very insides to vinegar.

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come.

Byron's exuberant masterpiece tells of the adventures of Don Juan, a handsome and charming young man naturally gifted with the ladies. After his first illicit love affair at the age of 16 in his native Spain, he is exiled to Italy. Following a dramatic shipwreck, his exploits take him to Greece, where he is sold as a slave, and to Russia, where he becomes a favorite of the Empress Catherine, who sends him on to England.

In the bestselling traditions of Seinfeldia and Top of the Rock comes a fascinating deep dive into the longest-running live-action sitcom in television history, from its humble beginnings to its evolution as a critically acclaimed cult classic comedy. Charlie, Dennis, Mac, Sweet Dee, and Frank...

Anna Hall was a beautiful and skilled Second World War air force operative, guiding RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain - before a bomb killed her sister and left her disfigured. In the aftermath, haunted by her failure to keep her sister safe, Anna retreats to a posting in the countryside - until a chance encounter spins her life in a new direction.

When Ollie Sweet is very publicly dumped by ‘The One’, his seemingly perfect world dissolves into misery, self-pity, and a bizarre rooftop meeting with a suicidal man in flip-flops. While most would seek out the support of loved ones at such a torrid time, natural-born journalist Ollie asks the subscribers of his website: how did they get over their failed relationships? When Ollie follows some of their more extreme advice, chaos inevitably ensues.

This varied, well-chosen selection brings onto one audiobook the best of Dylan Thomas. Here is the legendary recording of "Under Milk Wood", with Richard Burton and Richard Bebb as narrators; but here also are two radio productions he wrote before that great classic, and though interesting in their own right, they show how "Under Milk Wood" grew gradually in his imagination.