For the first thousand years of its history, Ireland was
shaped by its wars. Beginning with the legends of ancient battles
and warriors, Wars of the Irish Kings moves through a time
when history and storytelling were equally prized, into the age
when history was as much propaganda as fact. This remarkable book
tells of tribal battles, foreign invasions, Viking raids, family
feuds, wars between rival Irish kingdoms, and wars of rebellion
against the English. While the battles formed the legends of the
land, it was the people fighting the battles—Cuchulain, Finn
MacCool, Brian Boru, Robert the Bruce, Elizabeth I, and Hugh
O’Donnell—who shaped the destiny and identity of the Irish
nation.
This is the real story of how Ireland came to be, told through
eyewitness accounts from a thousand years of struggle, brought
together for the first time in one volume. It’s a surprisingly
immediate and stunning portrait of an all-but-forgotten time that
forged the Ireland of today.
關於作者:
David Willis McCullough’s most recent book is a historical
anthology, Chronicles of the Barbarians: Firsthand Accounts of
Pillage and Conquest from the Ancient World to the Fall of
Constantinople. He is also the author of Brooklyn . . . And
How It Got That Way, an informal social history, and the
mystery novels Think on Death and Point No-Point. He
lives with his wife, Frances, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.