Paperback
A Lethal Legacy: A History of Ireland in 18 Murders
By Fin Dwyer
The Instant Top 5 Irish Times Bestseller
From the creator of The Irish History Podcast comes a fascinating look at Irish history through the lens of murder.
In A Lethal Legacy, Fin Dwyer charts 200 years of Irish history, opening up our past as never before, by observing the grand societal changes of our times through the intimate lens of eighteen murders and the lives and communities they altered forever.
From the creator of the critically acclaimed Irish History Podcast comes a ground-breaking exploration of the past, casting its gaze beyond the chambers of power and carnage of battle, and into the lives of the everyday people that lived through those violent centuries. From the desperate retributions of the Land War of the nineteenth century, through the unprecedented tumult of the revolutionary years, to the causes that helped to shape contemporary Ireland, these previously overlooked cases of human tragedy offer a fresh perspective on a history we think we know.
Astonishing, illuminating and compelling, A Lethal Legacy chronicles Ireland’s turbulent past through one of our most enduring fascinations – the act of killing – and in mapping the causes and aftermath of these cases, Dwyer offers us a fresh new understanding of the fires that forged modern Ireland.
'interesting and readable.' Irish Times -
”'Superbly researched, cogently written and shows an empathy for the dead that similar books often lack.” - Business Post
”'Intriguing. Dwyer examines very broad subjects [The Famine, the Land Wars, the Rising, mass emigration, the Troubles] through the prism of something much more personal, domestic, even intimate — though equally violent — the killing of individuals. … Packed full of fascinating stories.” - Irish Independent
”'A reminder of how far Ireland has come. Read it so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.” - Dr Marie Cassidy
'Multi-faceted, nuanced, and supremely sensitive to context, A fresh and compelling perspective on 200 years of Irish life.' Neil Hegarty, author of The Story of Ireland -