Irish migrants in new communities: Seeking the Fair Land? comprises the second collection of essays by these editors exploring fresh aspects and perspectives on the subject of the Irish diaspora. This volume, edited by Máirtín Ó Catháin and Mícheál Ó hAodha, develops many of the oral history themes of the first book and concentrates more on issues surrounding the adaptation of migrants to new or host environments and cultures. These new places often have a jarring effect, as well as a welc...

The curious story of the unlikely relationship between a champion boxer and a celebrated man of letters.Gene Tunney, the world heavyweight-boxing champion from 1926 to 1928, seemed an unusual companion for George Bernard Shaw, but Shaw, a world-famous playwright, found the Irish-American athlete to be "among the very few for whom I have established a warm affection." The Prizefighter and the Playwright chronicles the legendary -- but rarel...

**A singular, warm-hearted, and inspiring look at life from beloved writer, critic, and pundit Roger Ebert—and the inspiration for the award-winning documentary."A captivating, moveable feast." —New York Times Book Review"Thoughtful, entertaining, and emotional." —Entertainment Weekly**Roger Ebert was the best-known film critic of his time. He began reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times in1967, and was the first film critic ever to win...

In 1957, when a young Midwestern woman landed a job at The New Yorker, she didn’t expect to stay long at the reception desk. But stay she did, and for twenty-one years she had the best seat in the house. In addition to taking messages, she ran interference for jealous wives checking on adulterous husbands, drank with famous writers at famous watering holes throughout bohemian Greenwich Village, and was seduced, two-timed, and proposed to by a few of the magazine’s eccentric luminaries. Thi...

This entertaining guide reveals the unusual origins of typical contemporary terms, from A-OK to Top Dog and beyond.So many of the phrases we use day-to-day seem perfectly clear to us despite having no idea where they came from. But in Common Phrases, Max Cryer gives us a deeper understanding of contemporary English by tracing their journeys from new concept to common coinage.The former host of Today, Jane Pauley, claims to have coined the ...

This book contains 250 anecdotes about the theater, including these: 1) British actor Pete Postlethwaite has a rugged face. When he was studying at the Bristol Old Vic, he ran out of money to pay for the completion of his course of study. However, the head of the school knew that the young man had real talent, so he told him, "Listen, I have a hunch you're going to do all right in this business, so I'm going to put down the outstanding amount as a debt and then, in a few years' time, I'll ...

With his stunning looks and swashbuckling onscreen panache Errol Flynn was by all appearances the quintessential movie star who had it all. But Flynn's manicured Hollywood persona did little to hide his insatiable appetites off-screen - the binge drinking, brawling and womanising that would forever cement his place as a film legend. In this hard-hitting study, bestselling show business biographer David Bret traces the life and loves of the actor and man.It was Flynn's natural chari...

A witty and addictively readable day-by-day literary companion.At once a love letter to literature and a charming guide to the books most worth reading, A Reader's Book of Days features bite-size accounts of events in the lives of great authors for every day of the year. Here is Marcel Proust starting In Search of Lost Time and Virginia Woolf scribbling in the margin of her own writing, "Is it nonsense, or is it brilliance?" Fictional events that take place within...

John Montague was a boisterous enigma. In the 1930s, he was called “the world's greatest golfer” by famed sportswriter Grantland Rice. He could drive the ball 300 yards and more, or he could chip it across a room into a highball glass. He played golf with everyone from Howard Hughes and W. C. Fields to Babe Ruth and Bing Crosby. Yet strangely, he never entered a professional tournament or allowed himself to be photographed. Then, a Time magazine photographer snapped his picture wi...

The murals in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums.America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people.Critics are like pigs at the pastry cart.Describing something by relating it to another thing is the essence of metaphorical thought. It is one of the oldest activities of humankind—and one of the most impressive when done skillfully. Throughout history, many masters of metaphor have crafted observations that are so spec...

I never forget a face … but in your case I'll make an exceptionHow many times have you found yourself struck dumb with anger, unable to think of the perfect repost only to come up with something wonderful later when your adversary has gone and any retort seems like sour grapes? The French call it ‘L’espirit de l’escalier’, meaning the moment at the bottom of the stairs when the rage-induced paralysis clears and suddenly you know exactly what you should have said, but alas, the righ...

“It is Johnson’s gift that he can make his subjects human and fallible enough that we would…recognize them instantly, while also illuminating what made them heroes.” —Washington Post Book World on Heroes“Johnson is a clear, intelligent, forceful writer, and nothing if not thorough.” —Wall Street JournalPaul Johnson, the acclaimed author of Creators, Heroes, and the New York Times bestseller Intellectuals, returns with a captivating collection of biographical portraits of th...