Irish Rugby Player by Player is a compilation of the 50 greatest Irish rugby players in the sport's history. Re-live the glorious careers of Jack Kyle and Brian O'Driscoll, examine Eric Elwood's contribution to the game, and marvel at the genius of Simon Geoghegan and Keith Wood. Enjoy the careers of Irish stalwarts like Jeremy Davidson and Rory Best, and cast your mind back to the epic Lions tours that saw Tom Kiernan, Willie John McBride, Ollie Campbell (who writes a foreword for the boo...

The first known reference to a card game comes from China in AD868. By the middle of the 15th century, Ming Dynasty players were using packs with four suits. Some people used wooden tiles instead, which led to the introduction of dominoes and rummikub. Games spread across Asia into Europe. The Saracens and Moors were playing an ancient game called naib in the 14th century, and Egyptian decks with 52 cards survive from the same period. The suits were traditionally swords, clubs, cups and co...

Ireland has produced some of the world's most popular comedians. This ebook explores the lives and professions of its finest exports, such as Jimmy O'Dea, Cork's favourite son Niall Tóibín, Dublin-born Maureen Potter, Hal Roach who spent 26 of his 60 years in showbusiness performing at Jury's Irish Cabaret and Frank Kelly, a comedian who graduated from a bit part in the original Italian Job to the outrageous Father Jack Hackett in Father Ted, a series that also introduced Dermot Morgan a...

The offensive on the Somme took place between July 1 and November 18 1916 and is arguably the most iconic battle of the Great War. Kitchener's infamous Pals Battalions were first sent into the battlefield en masse and it was a here where many of the dreams and aspirations of a nation, hopeful of victory, were agonizingly dashed. More than three million men fought in the battle and one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in history.

On 31st August 1939, German SS Troops in Polish uniforms launched a false attack on a German radio station on the border. The following day, Hitler used this as his pretext for invading Poland with two enormous pincer movements. He believed Britain and France wouldn't react but he was mistaken and both declared war on Germany on 3rd September. Appeasement had given way to abject betrayal and the whole of Europe was plunged into war once more. The Germans believed they had a secret weapon t...

The Royal Navy's defining moment came at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Thirty-three British ships under Admiral Horatio Nelson faced 41 ships of the combined French and Spanish navies off the southwest coast of Spain. Nelson shunned conventional naval tactics, which dictated lining your fleet up oppose the enemy and then pound them into submission. Instead, he divided his ships into two lines and drove them through the opposition at right angles in a manoeuvre known as crossing the T. I...

This new ebook combines both concise histories of WWI and WWII in one book, written by Pat Morgan and Liam McCann respectively. WWI On 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, a Bosnian Serb student shot the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The assassination plunged the world into a global conflict that was to scar human history and redefine the meaning of the word 'war'. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand provided the spark that ignited smouldering enmities, but World War I ...

Now that we are re-assessing the devasting effect of aggressive and predatory European colonialism, particularly by Britain, this book provides a timely review of how the indigenous population of North America was virtually wiped out by the end of the 19th century. It's estimated that between two and ten million Native Americans farmed the plains in the northwest of the continent before the arrival of Columbus in the New World. Unfortunately, the aggressive, land grabbing Europeans brought...

In 1886 German engineer Karl Benz invented a petrol-powered automobile that became the first production motor vehicle. Steam and electric cars already existed but they were slow and cumbersome, and the internal-combustion engine revolutionised the industry. Only a decade or so later, drivers of all three types of car were battling for the outright speed record but progress was slow and it took until 1904 before Frenchman Louis Rigolly reached 100mph.By the 1920s, motor racing had entered a...

Best of British Tractors is a celebration of the pioneers and innovators of British farming machinery whose names have become synonymous with our most famous tractors: David Brown, Ferguson, Leyland, Marshall and Nuffield. This colourful ebook charts the history of these British companies and the machines they have produced, tractors that are loved the world over for their quality and longevity. Author Liam McCann profiles the greatest models from the likes of Allis-Chalmers, Ivel, JCB, Mu...

Many of us have grown up with James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan as our heroes, but these spies live and work in a fictional world that bears little resemblance to reality. Secret agents have existed for as long as humans have been in conflict, and this book tells the stories of the people and agencies responsible for some of the most daring and disastrous exploits in the history of intelligence gathering, warfare and espionage.We'll examine the lives of Nathan Hale, the man ex...

The Mafias Greatest Hits draws on exceptional access to the FBI's previously secret files on the Mafia and uncovers the extraordinary truth behind some of the Mafia s most notorious killers. The FBI didn't realise the extent and scope of the Mafia and its organisation until 1963 and then started to try and actively combat it. They realised that many of the crimes which they were trying to solve before that date (and thought of as racketeering ) were all interlinked and controlled by a smal...