The Collins Press: 82 books

‘Forsake all 21st-century Celtic superhighways in favour of boreens.’ So says Paul Clements as he sets off to visit the highest point in each of the 32 counties of Ireland. Travelling on the GMRs (Great Mountain Roads), Paul spends time with the eccentric and quaint, who teach him...

This is the story of Mayo men and women active during the War of Independence and the Civil War, a story largely untold or forgotten. Throughout, there is an attempt at real insight into the lives of participants. The establishment and acceptance of the Garda Síochána and how Mayo adapted to peace...

This handy guide to Dublin’s architecture is filled with easy-to-follow walks through the city, with clear maps, expert architectural insights and fascinating historical detail. Dublin’s long history has had a visible impact on its architecture: waves of invaders and the attempts by Dubliners...

* ‘The Loneliest Boy in the World – he has only seagulls as playmates.’ 1949 newspaper article * Gearóid Cheaist Ó Catháin had a unique childhood – he was the last child brought up on the Blasket Islands of Ireland’s southwest coast. The nearest in age was his uncle who was thirty years...

When John Cuffe entered Mountjoy as a young prison officer in May 1978, he stepped back into Victorian times. He knew nothing about jails, apart from what he had seen in black-and-white films on RTE: 'good' sheriffs and 'bad' hombres. He quickly learned that behind bars there is no black and white:...

Following the spirit of the world’s longest coastal driving route, Paul Clements sets out to discover the real west of Ireland. Along the way he encounters memorable characters living on the Atlantic edge and presents a unique portrait of their lives. We meet the last man standing on a remote Galway...

The Kerry Way is Ireland’s longest waymarked trail and one of the most popular. Looping around the Iveragh Peninsula, it follows narrow country roads, forest paths, abandoned coach roads and mass paths, national park land and farmland. This clear and lively guide gives the prospective wayfarer enough...

The British criminal justice system is not dedicated to the truth. It is concerned only with reasonable doubt. During the British Army campaign in Northern Ireland (1969–2007), security forces often dispensed with judge and jury, selected candidates for assassination, extracted false evidence from...

In 1943, thirty-two captured Irish merchant sailors refused a Gestapo request to work for Germany. They were sent to a labour education camp, where they were starved, beaten and forced to dig the foundations for an immense U-boat factory, Bunker Valentin. Among them was Harry Callan, a Catholic...

Eoin Hand's term as manager of the Republic of Ireland soccer team is often overshadowed by the glory days of Jack Charlton. If Charlton had good luck, Hand was all too familiar with its quarrelsome sibling: bad luck. This is the inside story of his time in football, from his start with Swindon Town...

Dunnes Stores cashier Mary Manning knew little about apartheid when, at the age of twenty-one, she refused to register the sale of two Outspan South African grapefruits under a directive from her union. She was suspended and nine of her co-workers walked out in support. They all assumed they would...

The 1916 Rising is one of the most documented and analysed episodes in Ireland's turbulent history. Often overlooked, however, is its immediate aftermath. This significant window in the narrative of Irish revolutionary history, which saw the rebirth of the Volunteers and laid the foundations for the...