Niche history books

Niamh Kelleher

@nighttramniamh

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Books about books? Fine, this is books about Ireland's weirder corners of history. Not a single one of these will help you at a table quiz on general knowledge, but hand me a pint and ask about the Vikings in Dublin or the Civil War and I will not shut up. Picked up most of these at Hodges Figgis or Chapters when I should've been reading fintech UX reports on the Luas home. Filed here so I stop forgetting the titles and asking strangers in bookshops if they've heard of them.

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Niche history books — 7 items
Name	Title	Why I loved it
1Dublin: The Making of a Capital City by David Dickson	Dublin: The Making of a Capital City	Absolute brick of a book but it made me see the Georgian squares I walk past every day differently. Slow going on the Luas though, my arms ached.
2The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan	The Year of the French	Fiction, not history, but it taught me more about the 1798 rebellion than any textbook. Mayo gets its moment for once instead of Dublin hogging the story.
3Vikings in Ireland by Howard B. Clarke	Vikings in Ireland	Turns out half of Dublin's street names are Viking leftovers. Ruined my commute in the best way, now I see longphorts everywhere.
4The Great Irish Famine by Christine Kinealy	The Great Irish Famine	Grim, obviously, but Kinealy doesn't let anyone off the hook. Not a cosy read, don't bring it to the pub, just saying.
5Ireland's Call by Tom English	Ireland's Call	Rugby history that reads like gossip. If you've ever screamed at a Six Nations match this fills in exactly why it matters so much here.
61916: The Long Revolution by Gabriel Doherty and Dermot Keogh	1916: The Long Revolution	Essays, so you can dip in and out on the Luas without losing the thread. Changed how I look at the GPO on O'Connell Street.
7Ireland: A History by Thomas Bartlett	Ireland: A History	The one I lend to anyone who asks 'so what actually happened here anyway' and then never gets back because it's too good.

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