This book deals with the town and people of Fethard, Co.Tipperary over the great span of 800 years from 1200 to 2000. This is a scholarly book which is excellent on the administrative changes subsequent to military/political conflict. Religion and education are two consistent themes and they definitely gave Fethard its key buildings.

Michael O’Donnell examines in detail the impact of the Great Famine which halted development in the middle of the nineteenth century and created a Fethard overseas as thousands fled the land of hopelessness. The War of Independence and Civil War in the 1919-23 years has much new material and knowledge, which only a local could garner. The book is very balanced between the big events and the business of day to day existence. It is in effect a chronicle of survival. Photographs and maps, from the fine archive collected by Joe Kenny, Fethard, are included to show the town evolving in its material shape.

It is now available from all major bookstores or you can order directly from us. Just visit our online bookstore.

Seventeenth century colonist English was received by an Irish-speaking population and remodelled on a Gaelic template. The two languages shaded into each other structurally giving rise to a hybrid – Irish English. Two major varieties emerged - northern and southern. Southern Irish English examines the second of these.

Southern Irish English is the variety of English spoken in the part of Ireland roughly coterminous with the Irish Republic (Donegal being the most obvious exception).It may be defined as English spoken by the people of southern Ireland, affected in varying degrees by the Irish language and retaining some older features of English vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax.

This readable account of its origin, development and current status begins with a synopsis of its history and nomenclature, then reviews its major categories, including vocabulary, forms, sounds, syntax and meaning. The remainder of the book comprises a series of illustrative texts, with commentary and analysis.

Southern Irish English, apart from its intrinsic focus on language, is also an incisive commentary on the colonial process and the construction of community.

Southern Irish English: Review and Exemplary Texts by Séamas Moylan is available in all the major bookshops. Price RRP €20.

John O'Leary A study in Irish separatism by Marcus Bourke. This classic biography of John O'Leary, a native of Tipperary Town and a leading figure in Nationalist politics, was first published in 1967. The front flap proclaims: 'His [John O'Leary's] public career spanned a vital sixty-year period for modern Ireland from the Young Ireland Rising of 1848 to the establishment of Sinn Fein in 1907, and he played a vital role in both historical events. John O'Leary achieved fame too as the sponsor of the young poet, W.B. Yeats, in the 1880s and participated prominently in the early activities of the Anglo-Irish literary revival'.