We’ve independently chosen our favourite titles to sell in our bookshops and online. And remember – we offer Free Postage in ROI on orders over €30 – just choose the Free Postage option at checkout.
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The words of a man. The message of a people. Bringing together a new introduction by Volodymyr Zelensky with his most powerful war speeches, this book recounts Ukraine's story through the words of its president. It is the story of a nation valiantly defending itself from Russian aggression. And it is the story of a people leading the world in the struggle for democracy. Above all, it is a battle cry for us all to stand up and fight for liberty. If not now, when? All President Zelensky's proceeds from this book - amounting to at least 60p per copy of the print edition sold in the UK/Ireland - will go to United24, his initiative to collect donations in support of Ukraine. United24 is run by the government of Ukraine. For more information, visit u24.gov.ua. ISBN 9781529153545 -
Staff Pick: About the institutional abuse that was inflicted on the Irish people through the Catholic Church, Hogan does not shy away from difficult topics and tries to get every perspective she can – although some people are less willing to talk than others. A difficult, yet essential book that everyone should read. Sarah J. -
The inspiration for What White People Can Do Next came in June 2020, shortly after the death of George Floyd when Emma Dabiri shared a resource on Instagram called "What White People Can Do Next" and was overwhelmed by outpourings of enthusiasm and relief from white people deeply affected by the racial justice protests unfolding across the globe but unsure of what to do next. What White People Can Do Next will be a practical resource offering accessible guidance that will aim to cut through the overwhelming online discourse. Dabiri is said to interrogate shibboleths such as ‘White Supremacy’ and ‘White Privilege’, by combining her studies and personal reflection. Dabiri said: "I was blown away by the response to my 'White People' online resource, and welcome the opportunity to delve deeper and expand on its themes. I think we’ve nailed how to say what we don’t want, but find it much harder to articulate what we do—let alone how to achieve it. Nonetheless I’m sure most of us can sense we’re on the verge of something; whether or not that’s teetering on the precipice of disaster, or on the threshold of a deeply renewed and just reality, the future feels like it’s hanging in the balance. My intention with this book is that it works as a guide towards ushering in the latter. This is a book about the part that’s often missing, about the ‘where we go from here’ and the ‘what’ it is we do next." ISBN 9780141996738 -
Through the collection of photographs and essays in this book you will get a rare glimpse into the lives of the women of An Garda Síochána and what they bring to policing. You get an insight into the experiences of the early trailblazers who inspired significant numbers of women to follow in their footsteps. And you will read about those who are instrumental in keeping people safe every day, including the women who work at the top echelons of An Garda Síochána. Their varied stories and journeys are ones of inspiration, devotion and commitment to policing. We hope you will enjoy reading about the positive impact they bring to policing and the communities they serve. ISBN XGARDA -
The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations today. ISBN 9781408870587 -
Staff Pick: "This book certainly packs a punch when it comes to a deeply researched topic close to the author’s first-hand experience. Part memoir and part series of essays, Dabiri not only examines the history and politics surrounding black people’s hair, but also gives an insight into what it was like to grow up black and Irish in 1990s Dublin." Sarah U. -
The electrifying behind-the-scenes account of a year that brought Ireland to the brink and back. Based on a wealth of original research and over a hundred interviews with cabinet members, public health officials, frontline workers, and ordinary people on whom the crisis exacted a personal toll, A State of Emergency is the incendiary untold story of Ireland’s response to the biggest public health emergency of the past century. Ranging from the halls of Government Buildings, where conflict between the new Cabinet and its public health advisors threatened to derail the official response, to the frontlines of the containment effort itself, where doctors, nurses, and the communities they served found themselves pushed to breaking point, A State of Emergency is a landmark work of journalism and a riveting insider account of the struggle to bring Ireland back from the brink. ISBN 9780008502850 -
A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians - now with a new afterwordOn a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket. The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever... ISBN 9780241972137 -
When Layla Saad began an Instagram challenge called #MeAndWhiteSupremacy, she never predicted it would spread as widely as it did. She encouraged people to own up and share their racist behaviors, big and small. She was looking for truth, and she got it. Thousands of people participated in the challenge, and over 90,000 people downloaded the Me and White Supremacy Workbook. The updated and expanded Me and White Supremacy takes the work deeper by adding more historical and cultural contexts, sharing moving stories and anecdotes, and including expanded definitions, examples, and further resources. Awareness leads to action, and action leads to change. The numbers show that readers are ready to do this work - let's give it to them. Me and White Supremacy teaches readers how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of colour, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. ISBN 9781529405118 -
As Governor of Galicia, SS Brigadesfuhrer Otto Freiherr von Wachter presided over an authority on whose territory hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed, including the family of the author's grandfather. By the time the war ended in May 1945, he was indicted for 'mass murder'. Hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the Poles and the British, as well as groups of Jews, Wachter went on the run. He spent three years hiding in the Austrian Alps before making his way to Rome and being taken in by a Vatican bishop. He remained there for three months. While preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline' he died unexpectedly, in July 1949, a few days after having lunch with an 'old comrade' whom he suspected of having been recruited by the Americans. In THE RATLINE Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of a Nazi fugitive, the love between Wachter and his wife Charlotte, who continued to write regularly to each other while he was on the run, and a fascinating insight into life in Rome and among American and Soviet spies active at the start of the Cold War. Using modern medical expertise, the door is unlocked to a mystery that haunts Wachter's youngest child, who believes his father was a good man - what was Wachter doing while in hiding, and what exactly caused his death? ISBN 9781474608145 -
We Don't Know Ourselves is a very personal vision of recent Irish history from the year of O'Toole's birth, 1958, down to the present. Ireland has changed almost out of recognition during those decades, and Fintan O'Toole's life coincides with that arc of transformation. The book is a brilliant interweaving of memories (though this is emphatically not a memoir) and engrossing social and historical narrative. The disintegration of the old alliance of Catholic church and state is mapped in a series of dramatic episodes. Certain themes recur - of things that were known but could never be acknowledged, of cruelty and corruption hidden in plain sight. This was the era of Eamon de Valera, Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and John Charles McQuaid, of sectarian civil war in the North and the Pope's triumphant visit in 1979, but also of those who began to speak out against the ruling consensus - feminists, advocates for the rights of children, gay men and women coming out of the shadows. There is a quiet and sober anger in O'Toole's description of child abuse at every level of the state and educational system, the punishment of women as sexual beings, the IRA's psychological ability to portray themselves as victims of a conflict in which they were the worst perpetrators, and the sheer arrogance of the church's power. We Don't Know Ourselves is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland. ISBN 9781784978341 -
The 1918-19 influenza epidemic killed more than 50 million people, and infected between one fifth and half of the world's population. It is the world's greatest killing influenza pandemic, and is used as a worst case scenario for emerging infectious disease epidemics like the corona virus COVID-19. It decimated families, silenced cities and towns as it passed through, stilled commerce, closed schools and public buildings and put normal life on hold. Sometimes it killed several members of the same family. Like COVID-19 there was no preventative vaccine for the virus, and many died from secondary bacterial pneumonia in this pre-antibiotic era. In this work, Ida Milne tells how it impacted on Ireland, during a time of war and revolution. But the stories she tells of the harrowing impact on families, and of medicine's desperate search to heal the ill, could apply to any other place in the world at the time. ISBN 9781526122698 -
A companion to the hugely successful podcast of the same name by Donal Fallon, THREE CASTLES BURNING is an enjoyable wander through some of Dublin's less obvious but more interesting streets and roads such as Henrietta Street, Watling Street, Fownes Street and Kildare Road. This combination of social, cultural, industrial and commercial, and political history, through the prism of the places where revolutions great and small were sparked, offers the reader a fresh and unexpected take on Ireland's capital city. ISBN 9781848408722 -
The must-read, pocket-sized Big Think book of 2020It feels like the world is falling apart. So how do we keep hold of our optimism? How do we nurture the parts of ourselves that hope, trust and believe in something better? And how can we stay sane in this world of division?In this beautifully written and illuminating polemic, Booker Prize nominee Elif Shafak reflects on our age of pessimism, when emotions guide and misguide our politics, and misinformation and fear are the norm. A tender, uplifting plea for optimism, Shafak draws on her own memories and delves into the power of stories to reveal how writing can nurture democracy, tolerance and progress. And in the process, she answers one of the most urgent questions of our time. ISBN 9781788165723 -
No one loves and quarrels, desires and deceives as boldly or brilliantly as Greek gods and goddesses. In Stephen Fry's vivid retelling, we gaze in wonder as wise Athena is born from the cracking open of the great head of Zeus and follow doomed Persephone into the dark and lonely realm of the Underworld. We shiver in fear when Pandora opens her jar of evil torments and watch with joy as the legendary love affair between Eros and Psyche unfolds. Mythos captures these extraordinary myths for our modern age - in all their dazzling and deeply human relevance. 'A romp through the lives of ancient Greek gods. Fry is at his story-telling best... the gods will be pleased' Times Discover ISBN 9781405934138 -
Thousands are homeless, tens of thousands are languishing on social housing waiting lists, even more are unable to afford to rent or buy. Why is our housing system so dysfunctional? Why can it not meet social and affordable housing needs? Home: Why Public Housing is the Answer examines the structural causes of our housing emergency, provides a detailed critique of government housing policy from the 1980s to the present and outlines a comprehensive, practical and radical alternative that would meet the housing needs of the many, not just the few. For three decades Government policy has been marked by an undersupply of social housing and an over-reliance on the private market to meet housing needs. Housing has become a commodity, not a public good. The result is a dysfunctional housing system that is leaving more and more people unable to access appropriate, secure and affordable homes. The answer, as argued in this transformative new book, lies in establishing a Constitutional right to housing, large scale investment in a new model of public housing to meet social and affordable housing need, real reform of the private rental sector and regulation of private finance, development and land. ISBN 9781785372650 -
"In a world that seems to get crazier by the day, a world where ‘facts’ and ‘truth’ no longer seem to exist, how do you hang on to what you know to be ‘right’, and how do you respond to people who disagree? James O’Brien’s book is both serious and very funny as he examines how people construct their beliefs in a post-truth society & how we can combat the lies of the modern world." Bob ISBN 9780753553121 -
From war to revolution, famine to emigration, The Darkness Echoing travels around Ireland bringing its dark past to lifeIreland is a nation obsessed with death. We find a thrill in the moribund, a strange enchantment in the drama of our dark past. It's everywhere we look and in all of our beloved myths, songs and stories that have helped to form our cultural identity. Our wakes and ballads, our plays and famine sites, all of them and more come together to tell ourselves and the world who we are and what we have suffered to get here. Gillian O'Brien had a beloved grandmother who tried on outfits in preparation for her wake. Always fascinated by the Irish preoccupation with death and the rituals around it, Gillian sets out to explore this intriguing habit of ours, to be compelled to celebrate the macabre and relish the darkness of own mortality. In The Darkness Echoing she tours Ireland to find our most haunted and fascinating historical sites, to discover the stories behind them and reveal what they say about Ireland as a nation. ISBN 9781529176957