The Little Book of Donegal is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about County Donegal. Here you will find out about Donegal's folklore and customs, its proud sporting heritage, its castles, forts and stone circles, its famous (and occasionally infamous) men and women. Through quaint villages and historic towns and along the 'Wild Atlantic Way', this book takes the reader on a journey through County Donegal and its vibrant past. A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped into time and time again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage and the secrets of this ancient county.

In the time of the Troubles, when bombs blew through the night and soldiers prowled down the roads, Henry Glassie came to the Irish borderland to learn how country people endure through history. He settled into the farming community of Ballymenone, beside Lough Erne in the County Fermanagh, and listened to the old people. For a decade he heard and recorded the stories and songs in which they outlined their culture, recounted their history, and pictured their world. In their view, their world was one of love, defeat, and uncertainty, demanding the virtues of endurance: faith, bravery, and wit. Glassie's task in this book is to set the scene, to sketch the backdrop and clear the stage, so that Hugh Nolan and Michael Boyle, Peter Flanagan, Ellen Cutler, and their neighbors can tell their own tale, which explains their conditions and converts them into a tragedy of conflict and a comedy of the absurd. It gathers the saints and warriors, and celebrates the stars whose wit enabled endurance in days of violence and deprivation. With patience and respect, Glassie describes life in a time and a place exactly like no other, and yet Ballymenone is like a thousand other places where people work on the land during the day and tell their own tales at night, forgotten, while the men of power fill the newspapers and history books by sending poor boys out to be killed. The Stars of Ballymenone is an integrated analysis of the complete repertory of verbal art from a rural community where storytelling and singing of quality remained a part of daily life.

The northwest of Ireland provides a diversity of walks, from the wild, untamed landscape of Donegal to the gentler hills and green valleys of Sligo and Leitrim. This guidebook describes 27 walks of various grades, accompanied by quality photographs and specially drawn maps. Walk descriptions also include material on the rich natural history, folklore, geology and place names of the area. Since most routes are not signposted or waymarked, an up-to-date guidebook is essential. This will inspire you to get your walking boots on and start exploring this majestic landscape. • Also by this author: 'The Dingle Peninsula: A Walking Guide' and 'The Beara & Sheep's Head Peninsulas: A Walking Guide'. For a complete list of walking guides available from The Collins Press, see www.collinspress.ie

A pictorial history of the mountains of Ireland

"Familia, " which was first published in 1985, aims to provide informed writing on sources and case studies relating to that area where Irish history and genealogy overlap with mutual benefit. Members of the Foundation's Guild receive "Familia "and the "Directory of Irish Family History Research" as part of the return on their annual subscription.

This beautiful book visits twenty-eight richly atmospheric sites and tells the mythological stories associated with them. Woven into these landscapes are tales of love and betrayal, greed and courage, passion and revenge, featuring the famous characters of Celtic lore, such as Cú Chulainn, the children of Lír and Queen Maeve. The historical and archaeological facts and the folk traditions of each ancient site are explored. Some are famous, such as Tara and Newgrange; others are less well known but equally captivating such as the Béara Peninsula in Cork. In a world where many have lost touch with the land and their past, the legendary Irish landscape still survives and the stories are never quite over as long as there are people to tell them.