Brendan Lehane (1936–2020)

A volume in the Time-Life Great Cities series, this is an intimate, affectionate, but unvarnished account of the Irish state and society. We do not usually realise how complicated the history has been, with divisions based on ethnic origins, religion, language, and economic status (although most of us would have heard of the potato blight and the million deaths and emigration). One does not also understand why the relations between mainland British and the Irish needed to be so rough, when show more they actually share the same language. However, the author makes no bones about the Irishman's penchant for drink - after all, it is the home of Guinness - and the consequences of this predilection. show less

Full of florid language and the occasional snipe at the fact that some of what was though heretical then became dogma in the reformation and later, this is an interesting historical piece. Written in 1968, this is previous to Tim Severin's voyages to prove that it would have been possible to travel to America in Brendan's craft and previous to other scholarship about the period.

Still it's an interesting look at the time and at the people involved, while it does have it's flaws he has a great show more turn of phrase and he is quite an interesting read. The maps are interesting and informative as well. He does make some interesting points about the use of other legends to elaborate the lives of the saints However he fails to point out how different some of the marriage traditions in Ireland were to European which does impact on some of the stories and some of the assumptions. I do like the way he describes the carpet pages as being as a result of doodling gone riotous. show less

2292 The Quest of Three Abbots, by Brendan Lehane (read 6 May 1990) This is popular history centered on St. Brendan (484-577), St. Columba (521-597) and St. Columbanus (543-615). It is really an interesting story--at least the accounts of the latter two are. The account concludes with the Synod of Whitby in 664 whereat the Roman Church triumphed over the Irish Church. The book is a little irreverent but I enjoyed it. A good book, in an area in which I have read little.

Excellent guide, full of fascinating detail, never dry, though often dryly witty.