The Bloodied Field

Author: Michael Foley
Publisher: The O'Brien Press Ltd
ISBN: 1788492293
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
On the morning of 21 November 1920, Jane Boyle walked to Sunday Mass in the church where she would be married five days later. That afternoon she went with her fiancé to watch Tipperary and Dublin play a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. Across the city fourteen men lay dead in their beds after a synchronised IRA attack designed to cripple British intelligence services in Ireland. Trucks of police and military rumbled through the city streets as hundreds of people clamoured at the metal gates of Dublin Castle seeking refuge. Some of them were headed for Croke Park. Award-winning journalist and author Michael Foley recounts the extraordinary story of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park and the 90 seconds of shooting that changed Ireland forever. In a deeply intimate portrait he tells for the first time the stories of those killed, the police and military personnel who were in Croke Park that day, and the families left shattered in its aftermath, all against the backdrop of a fierce conflict that stretched from the streets of Dublin and the hedgerows of Tipperary to the halls of Westminster. Updated with new information and photographs.

Bloodied Banners

Author: Robert W. Jones
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843835614
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Book Description
Groundbreaking reassessment of the role played by armour, weapons and heraldry in medieval warfare, showing their cultural as well as military significance. `A penetrating investigation of medieval martial display... The reader is struck by its originality, and by its sophisticated and critical interpretative engagement with historical and literary sources. Particularly notable is the author's subtle exploration of the function of armour: not only its practical role, but as a form of display... A refreshingly different approach to the world of the medieval combatant and his place within that "host of many colours" that was a medieval army, it adds a new dimension to our understanding of medieval warfare.' Dr ANDREW AYTON, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Hull The medieval battlefield was a place of spectacle and splendour. The fully-armed knight, bedecked in his vivid heraldic colours, mounted on his great charger, riding out beneath his brightly-painted banner, is a stock image of war and the warrior in the middle ages. Yet too often the significance of such display has been ignored or dismissed as the empty preening of a militaristic social elite. Drawing on a broad range of source material and using innovative historical approaches, this book completely re-evaluates the way that such men and their weapons were viewed, showing that martial display was a vital part of the way in which war was waged in the middle ages. It maintains that heraldry and livery served not only to advertise a warrior's family and social ties, but also announced his presence on the battlefield and right to wage war. It also considers the physiological and psychological effect of wearing armour, both on the wearer and those facing him in combat, arguing that the need for display in battle was deeper than any medieval cultural construct and was based in the fundamental biological drives of threat and warning. ROBERT W. JONES gained his PhD from Cardiff University.

The Field of Blood

Author: Joanne B. Freeman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374717613
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 309

Book Description
"One of the best history books I've read in the last few years." —Chris Hayes The Field of Blood recounts the previously untold story of the violence in Congress that helped spark the Civil War. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF SMITHSONIAN'S BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF THE YEAR Historian Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery. These fights didn’t happen in a vacuum. Freeman’s dramatic accounts of brawls and thrashings tell a larger story of how fisticuffs and journalism, and the powerful emotions they elicited, raised tensions between North and South and led toward war. In the process, she brings the antebellum Congress to life, revealing its rough realities—the feel, sense, and sound of it—as well as its nation-shaping import. Funny, tragic, and rivetingly told, The Field of Blood offers a front-row view of congressional mayhem and sheds new light on the careers of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and other luminaries, as well as introducing a host of lesser-known but no less fascinating men. The result is a fresh understanding of the workings of American democracy and the bonds of Union on the eve of their greatest peril.

Cora Staunton

Author: Eimear Ryan
Publisher: The O'Brien Press Ltd
ISBN: 1788491572
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 136

Book Description
Cora Staunton is an elite sportswoman: winner of four All-Irelands, 11 All-Stars and five Club All-Irelands. She is a trailblazer in the Australian Football League, and a hero in her native Mayo for her gaelic football skills. But it's been a long and eventful road for Cora. When she was young, she was small for her age, and had to prove herself at every level: to the boys in her club, to the Mayo selectors who took a chance on her as a teenager, but most importantly to herself. From Croke Park to the stadiums of Sydney, Cora has proved herself to be a master of the game. This is the story of how a young football-mad girl became a living legend. A story of female empowerment for younger readers.

Kings of September

Author: Michael Foley
Publisher: O'Brien Press
ISBN: 9781847171184
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 317

Book Description
On the 19th September 1982 Kerry ran out in Croke Park chasing immortality. Victory over Offaly in the All-Ireland football final would secure them five titles in a row, a record certain never to be matched again. It had taken Offaly six heartbreaking years under manager Eugene McGee to drag themselves up from their lowest ebb, but now they stood on the cusp of a glorious reward. The result was a classic final that changed lives and dramatically altered the course of gaelic football history. The Kings of September is an epic story of triumph and loss, joy and tragedy, a story of two teams who illuminated a grim period in Irish life and enthralled a nation.

Wake of the Bloody Angel

Author: Alex Bledsoe
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0765327457
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Book Description
Swordsman Eddie LaCrosse must take to sea in the company of a former pirate queen in search of the infamous Black Edward Tew ... and his even more legendary treasure.

The Scrolls of the Ancients

Author: Robert Newcomb
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 0345478436
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 646

Book Description
“Plenty of adventure and magic . . . continues Robert Newcomb’s tradition of mixing adventure with an interesting and well-realized magical world.”—SF Site Prince Tristan and his twin sister, Shailiha, are the Chosen Ones, prophesied to unite the opposing magics of the dark Vagaries and the benevolent Vigors. But before they can fulfill their destiny, they must search out the mysterious Scrolls of the Ancients which hold the key to unlocking great mystical secrets. They are not the only ones on a dire quest. Krassus, a devoted servant of the Vagaries, has located one of the Scrolls and through it has attained great and ominous powers. Now he needs but one thing: a man who unknowingly possesses magic in his blood almost as potent as that of the Chosen Ones. Tristan and Shailiha must find that man before Krassus’s dark enchantments turn him into the most dangerous weapon of evil the world has ever known—if it’s not already too late. . . .

The Last Shades of Scarlet

Author: William Lamon
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1684565375
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Book Description
Under the united leadership of Athens and Sparta, Greece is able to repel the Persian invaders on land and at sea. Athens and Sparta remain the dominant powers in Greece, but their different political and military philosophies have led to an intense political and military rivalry that threatens stability. With Athenian power and wealth growing, many Greek city-states turn to Sparta for assistance. Greece is now choosing sides, causing an ideological rift that festers within each city-state. The division is manifesting itself in the form of violent political polarization. Revolts are becoming common and vicious, resulting in frequent shifts in allegiance. All feel insecure and suspicious. One’s friend today could be your enemy tomorrow. The year is 422 BC, and for a group of Spartan youths, the morning was supposed to be a day of celebration. A ceremony that would see them graduate from an education system that took them as seven-year-old boys and trained them to be the world’s most feared warriors. Instead, they find themselves on a secret mission at the request of a disgraced king. While Sparta feasts, Greece takes one last breath. The peace with Athens is failing. War is inevitable. Honor compels Athens and Sparta to uphold their treaty, but the wolves of war are already on the move, and neither city can afford to lose their advantage. The Last Shades of Scarlet: Wolves of Laconia is the tale of a young Spartan, Adronikos, and his mentor, Gylippus, during the Peloponnesian War. In youth, Adronikos is formally educated in the arts of hoplite warfare, survival, and assassination. Informally, he learns love from a childhood companion. Yet she is not Spartan, and his feelings for her are becoming dangerous. While he navigates this forbidden affair, Greece begins its steady descent back into chaos. Now, Adronikos is about to be thrust into battle and called upon to aid his mentor on pivotal assignments that will decide the fate of Greece. Through these trials, both will experience the physical and emotional tolls of the war, learning many lessons on love, betrayal, death, and destiny.

The Battle of Sekigahara

Author: Chris Glenn
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399014145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Book Description
This in-depth study of the greatest samurai battle in history explores its momentous significance as well as the epic combat itself. Finally unified under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan quickly fractured once again after his death in 1598. The warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu mounted a fearsome opposition to Hideyoshi’s loyal followers. As the country divided into two great armies, East and West, each side scrambled to take control of strategically vital highways and castles. These sieges culminated in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. Fought on October 21st, 1600, the battle lasted just six hours, but saw the deaths of an estimated 30,000 samurai, the destruction of a numerous noble families, and the creation of the Tokugawa Shogunate that would rule Japan for the next 260 years. The loyalist forces, despite their superior numbers and excellent battle formations, were defeated. In his exploration of the battle, Chris Glenn reveals the developments that led up to the outbreak of war and the characters involved. He details how the battle itself unfolded, and the aftermath. The weapons and armor of the time are also fully explained, along with little known customs of the samurai and their warfare.

Caleb's War

Author: Walter Urbanek
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1640827447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 662

Book Description
Caleb's War is a narrative about the tribulations of Sergeant Caleb Johnson, a farmer from the Shenandoah Valley who volunteered to serve in the Stonewall Brigade to stop the Yanks invading eastern Virginia. As Caleb fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, the reader will experience the gamut of emotions as he dealt with military and platoon issues and family concerns on the farm. The book is a plethora of information on the Civil War. The reader will learn about the filthy living conditions in camp, weapons, food preparation, diseases, generals, medicine, and terror and chaos of battle. A major theme throughout the book is the overpowering religious convictions of the soldiers, especially those from the South: reading the Bible, praying, and singing hymns such as "Amazing Grace" were common behaviors. Soldiers prayed before and during each battle imploring God to intervene on their behalf. Wounded warriors begged their Lord for forgiveness and end their agony and take them to his kingdom. The reader will gain a unique perspective of the battles as they first experience horrific happenings through the eyes of Sergeant Caleb Johnson, and then they join Union Private Josef Volzek and see what he perceived and underwent. The reader will be drawn into the story and feel what the soldiers endured: fear, bloodshed, smoke, terror, loss, noise, and chaos. Caleb's War is also a testimonial to all veterans. In the annals of warfare, there are no braver warriors than the men and several hundred women who served in the ranks of the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War; their courage and bravery is above reproach. Veterans are the men and women who answered our nation's call during a crisis. They remain a national treasure and merit our profoundest remembrance, respect, and support.