Description
Book SynopsisAward-winning travel writer Lawrence Millman tromps through western Ireland's rugged countryside to record the oral history of its people before their hard-earned traditions are permanently stifled by industrialization and development. In doing so he produces a "lovely nugget of good writing" (New York Times) that relays the stories of traditional laborers—tinkers cartwrights, rat-charmers, coopers, thatchers, farriers, gleemen, pig-gelders—with candor and depth.
Trade ReviewLawrence Millman is that rare traveler—a person with guts and a sense of humor. He is also a wonderful writer. -- Paul Theroux, travel writer, novelist, and author of Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads
Millman..does eloquent justice to a salty tradition. * Newsweek *
Writing that is altogether finer than anything one has a right to expect. * The Washington Post *
Millman's a genius. -- Annie Dillard
Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Proem…And He Not Far From Quiet Hisself I. The Shanachie 1. Mackerels Was All Me Life 2. I Only Want to Possess What I Have 3. You Can Tell My Stories Aren’t Book Stories 4. My Father Was a Great Man at the Harvesting II. The Tinker 5. We Could Have All Been Bards 6. The Road is the Best College 7. Listenin’ Was a Great Thing Once III. Body Parts 8. Who Will You Leave Your Hands to When You Die? 9. After me, It’ll Be Dead. Poetry, I Mean 10. We Are All Islands Envoi: The Vanishing
