This book suggests crime fiction is now the most relevant and valid form of writing which can deal with modern Ireland in terms of the post-'Troubles' landscape and post-Celtic Tiger economic boom. The book takes a chapter by chapter approach with each chapter and author discussing a different facet of Irish crime writing for example, Declan Hughes discusses the influence of American culture on Irish crime writing and Tana French reflects on crime fiction and the post-Celtic Tiger Irish identity. This publication is aimed at both the academic and general reader.

"A linguistic event. Gutter language, Spanish imagery and personal poetics . . . mingle into a kind of individual statement that has very much its own sound." --The New York Times Book Review Thirty years ago Piri Thomas made literary history with this lacerating, lyrical memoir of his coming of age on the streets of Spanish Harlem. Here was the testament of a born outsider: a Puerto Rican in English-speaking America; a dark-skinned morenito in a family that refused to acknowledge its African blood. Here was an unsparing document of Thomas's plunge into the deadly consolations of drugs, street fighting, and armed robbery--a descent that ended when the twenty-two-year-old Piri was sent to prison for shooting a cop. As he recounts the journey that took him from adolescence in El Barrio to a lock-up in Sing Sing to the freedom that comes of self-acceptance, faith, and inner confidence, Piri Thomas gives us a book that is as exultant as it is harrowing and whose every page bears the irrepressible rhythm of its author's voice. Thirty years after its first appearance, this classic of manhood, marginalization, survival, and transcendence is available in an anniversary edition with a new Introduction by the author.

The crime fiction world of the late 1970s, with its increasingly diverse landscape, is a natural beginning for this collection of critical studies focusing on the intersections of class, culture and crime--each nuanced with shades of gender, ethnicity, race and politics. The ten new essays herein raise broad and complicated questions about the role of class and culture in transatlantic crime fiction beyond the Golden Age: How is "class" understood in detective fiction, other than as a socioeconomic marker? Can we distinguish between major British and American class concerns as they relate to crime? How politically informed is popular detective fiction in responding to economic crises in Scotland, Ireland, England and the United States? When issues of race and gender intersect with concerns of class and culture, does the crime writer privilege one or another factor? Do values and preoccupations of a primarily middle-class readership get reflected in popular detective fiction?

Growing up on Green Street in Laredo, Texas, Ricardo Palacios made the wilderness his playground. The woods, the nearby creek, and the vastness of Chacon Creek Canyon transported him and his young friends away from the strife and poverty of the barrio and into the splendor of nature. Looking back on his life, Palacios reflects on seventy years of memoriesfrom his birth through his days at the all-male St. Josephs Academy Catholic school, capturing the powerful camaraderie he shared with his classmates and his experiences playing high school football. He next takes a hard look at his college years, during which he flunked out twice before finally making the commitment to graduate with honors and obtain a law degree. Palacios places his life experiences under a microscope, sharing periods of heavy alcohol use, very stressful years as a rookie attorney, and tales from the trenches about the pitfalls, successes, and failures of his legal practice. He describes his twenty-eight-year marriage, pondering how and why it failed, and tells of wonderful years raising his children on a cattle ranch, with plenty of opportunities for hunting and camping. Green Street Kid is more than the story of one mans life. It is a portrait of the life and culture of South Texas, where the majority of the population is Hispanic and conflicts sometimes develop between Hispanics and Anglos. It is a story of falling down and rising up again.

This groundbreaking collection provides students with a timely and accessible overview of current trends within contemporary popular fiction.

Irish crime fiction, long present on international bestseller lists, has been knocking on the door of the academy for a decade. With a wide range of scholars addressing some of the most essential Irish detective writing, Guilt Rules All confirms that this genre has arrived. The essays collected here connect their immediate subjects—contemporary Irish crime writers—to Irish culture, literature, and history. Anchored in both canonical and emerging themes, this collection draws on established Irish studies discussions while emphasizing what is new and distinct about Irish crime fiction. Guilt Rules All considers best-sellers like Adrian McKinty and Liz Nugent, as well as other significant writers whose work may fall outside of traditional notions of Irish literature or crime fiction. The essays consider a range of themes—among them globalization, women and violence, and the Troubles—across settings and time frames, allowing readers to trace the patterns that play a meaningful role in this developing genre.