Photographer and writer Chris Ryan visited the larger of the two Skellig Islands off the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, where an early-medieval monastery survives at the edge of the material world.Start at the Dublin offices of Google or Facebook, drive to the southwest tip of Ireland, hop a boat, journey seven miles out to sea, and climb 600 steps clinging to the edge of a … [Read more...] about A Sacred Place: Skellig Michael
Irish History
Sláinte! Mead in Ireland
Often referred to as “nectar of the gods” mead is possibly the oldest alcoholic beverage on earth. From a banquet in Bunratty Castle to a modern Meadery in Kinsale, our travel writer is raising a glass to the honied wine.On a dark rainy evening in January of this year, I found myself being ushered into the great hall of a 15th century castle in County Clare by a bearded man in … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Mead in Ireland
The Irish Role in the Viking Discovery of America
As the thousandth anniversary of the Viking discovery of America will soon be celebrated in the year 2000, Thomas J. Martin and Donald V. Mehus examine the role that the Irish, with their own long seafaring tradition, played in those daring Atlantic voyages of exploration and discovery. A thousand years ago one of the most remarkable discoveries of the European peoples came and … [Read more...] about The Irish Role in the Viking Discovery of America
Have the Irish Made It in America?
Sociologist and best-selling author Andrew M. Greeley looks at the various immigrant waves of Irish to this country and how they fared. Have the Irish made it in America? That the question is still asked shows that the Irish are still insecure about their success in this country. In fact, Irish Catholics are the most successful gentile ethnic group in American society and have … [Read more...] about Have the Irish Made It in America?
Thomas Cahill: An Irish Gift to the Human Race
By Tom Deignan
We mourn a writer who shed a light on Irish monks who kept the fires of Christian learning alight during the Dark Ages, and in doing so, helped banish some of the stereotypes leveled at our race.Best-selling author Thomas Cahill – who died on October 18 at the age of 82 – once described a bitter irony of history in this very magazine. “Ireland had been a place of fabulous … [Read more...] about Thomas Cahill: An Irish Gift to the Human Race