Nowhere in the annals of sport is there a family so gifted. In 1982 the seven Casey brothers were inducted into the Irish Sports Hall of Fame, the only family ever to receive that honour. The brothers, from Sneem in County Kerry, starred as Olympic-class oarsmen, Tug-O'-War champions, professional wrestlers and boxers and won fame throughout the sporting world. Steve, known as 'Crusher' Casey, became the supreme wrestler in the world and for a decade no one could match him. When he turned to boxing, the great Joe Louis refused to go into the ring with him. In 1983 at a family reunion in Sneem, five brothers, all in their seventies, climbed into the four-oar boat they used to win championships in the 1930s. Although they had not rowed together in fifty years, they still moved with natural unity and grace. Sports people from Kerry have achieved fame in many fields but the success of the Caseys surely outshines all.

A biography of the seven Casey brothers, all of whom were inducted into the Irish Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, the only family to ever receive that honor.

Which lawman did the most to tame the frontier, Bat Masterson or Wyatt Earp? Neither of them was a saint. At times their actions were not in compliance with the law, and they only served as peace officers for limited portions of their lives. What sets them apart from the thousands of sheriffs and marshals who served on America’s frontier? Did they make more arrests than others? Did they kill large numbers of men? Did they lead adventurous lives? Was it their character? Was there just the right ring to their names that led people to remember them? Did they get the right publicity at the right time? Did they just outlive all the others? Or was it a combination of these factors? This joint biography reveals the intersection of their legacies and attempts to answer the questions about their place in the story of the West. .

This the story of the seven baseball-playing Boyer brothers from western Missouri who signed professional contracts in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Led by oldest brother Cloyd, a pitcher, third baseman Ken and third baseman Clete, three of the seven brothers reached the majors. This book recounts their hardscrabble upbringing and how they fought their way to success. Initially discouraged by arm injuries that curtailed his big-league career, Cloyd became a coach and manager at the minor and major league levels, and remained in the game for nearly half a century. The most accomplished, Ken, became a perennial National League All-Star, and was the 1964 Most Valuable Player. In the 1960s, he was the face of the St. Louis Cardinals, and after his playing days ended he returned to manage the team. Clete gained prominence as a regular for the American League champion New York Yankees, and competed in five World Series before starring in the National League and concluding his career in Japan. While they did not make it to the top, the other four brothers enrich the story with their own baseball histories, and help illustrate how the closeness of the family helped each of them succeed.

A fascinating account of the life and career of Weeshie Fogarty, describing the passion and all-consuming obsession with football in Kerry and capturing the importance of the sport in the life of a youngster in Killarney in the 1950s. After his dream of playing with Kerry in Croke Park comes true, Weeshie becomes an intercounty referee and experiences the trauma of assault. Some secrets of Kerry football are revealed and some controversial moments. Today, he is an award-winning sports broadcaster with Radio Kerry. Into this memoir he weaves an account of life as a psychiatric nurse in a Victorian-style mental hospital.

There is a large floor of broken boards, covered here and there with bit and pieces of broken linoleum. I cannot see the walls or what's above them, but there is a woman at a fire who keeps looking at me, and a man on a chair reading a paper, who keeps looking at me.' Born in a fourth-floor tenement, the youngest of twelve, Liam was the son of a Dublin Fusilier and a flaxmill worker. Although half his siblings were dead before he was born, he does not 'look back in anger' but at people's tough resolve not to be bitter about life's lot and see the next generation through to better times. Set in the territory of Frank O'Connor on Cork's north side, this is not another sorry tale of childhook poverty. It is a memoir of courage and endurance, telling an often uproarious and always poignant story. Alive with the yowling of cats and scurrying of rats, the ghosts of Blarney and Shandon Street appear – ex-soldiers, money lenders, fruit-sellers and women overwhelmed by children, drink and galloping consumption. For some it ended with their head in a gas oven or with long tresses floating through the weir grass on the quiet waters of the River Lee. 'A black cat in the window' - was it a sign of luck? With six alive at least there was a chance. Despite the taboos of a strict time there was still some sex in a damp climate, some great heroes and heroines, and a bicycle in the hallway was a sure sign of upward mobility.

'Blackpool to the Front!' was a rallying cry first heard at the Battle of Étreux in August 1914 when the Royal Munster Fusiliers halted an entire German Army Corps. The experience of the hundreds who enlisted from the industrial Cork suburb of Blackpool mirrors the experience of the 200,000 Irishmen who joined up. At least sixty-nine Blackpool men made the ultimate sacrifice: factory workers, sons, husbands and fathers. Some enlisted to escape poverty, some to defend 'the rights of small nations'. They fought in France, Flanders, Gallipoli, Palestine and on the high seas. This is their story.