Story We Carry in Our Bones, The: Irish History for Americans - Hardcover

Osborne-McKnight, Juilene

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1455620718 ISBN 13: 9781455620715

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

The ancient legends and ancestral legacy of the Emerald Isle.

“We will know them in the deep genetic river of our ancestry, Irish at the marrow, carrying the story in our bones, in our very bones.“

—from Part 4

From 3800 B.C. to the twentieth century, this comprehensive history examines the course of Irish-Americans. Celtic legends, the evolution of Christianity, the coming of the Vikings, and the time of the Tudors are just some of the topics covered in these pages. Juilene Osborne-McKnight addresses the events leading up the An Gorta Mor, or the Great Hunger, which initiated the Irish immigration to America. She then follows the Irish as they travel to the new country and establish themselves as Irish-Americans. Whimsical yet complex Celtic drawings and an annotated bibliography of recommended books and movies accent each part. The four sections are entitled “Knock Wood and Light the Pumpkin,” “Keeping Faith at the Cross Road,” “No One Leaves Your Table Hungry,” and “Irish Roots and Rising Irish.”

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Did you know?

· More than forty million people consider themselves Irish-American.
· St. Patrick was not Irish. He was Romano-Welsh and ended up in Ireland as a captured slave.
· In ancient Ireland, the best storyteller (seanchaí) at any feast earned the choicest haunch of deer or boar to eat.
· The Irish already believed in three-part gods, so many readily adopted Christianity.
· The druids performed sacred ceremonies by moonlight, and the ancient order still exists today.
· One of the greatest warrior chiefs in Irish history, Brian Boru, was likely an ancestor of presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
· Oliver Cromwell is considered one of the most hated figures in Irish history.
· When the English conquered Ireland, the Irish people had to live on potatoes. One half-acre of potatoes could feed a family of five for a year.
· Between 1845 and 1855, more than two million Irish immigrated to America.
· Irish immigrants fought in the American Civil War, 150,000 for the Union and 50,000 for the Confederacy.

Many Irish-Americans today know little about Ireland and their ancestry. Talented seanchaí and historian Juilene Osborne-McKnight answers all of these questions and more. She presents Irish-American history in a compelling narrative form, accented with photographs, illustrations, and original, literary interludes.

Juilene Osborne-McKnight is the chair of humanities, chair of communication, and director of creative writing and an associate professor of journalism, literature, and creative writing at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. She is a seanchaí, a traditional storyteller in the ancient Irish tradition, and she speaks at libraries, schools, churches, and conferences. Osborne-McKnight is a member of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Historical Novel Society, and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She has published four novels of historical fantasy. Osborne-McKnight and her husband, Thomas, live in Warrington, Pennsylvania.

Mara McKnight, daughter of Juilene, received her bachelor of arts in communication from DeSales University in Pennsylvania. She works as a freelance artist and designer, with commissions from the Tipp Hill Music Festival in Syracuse, New York, and many other prominent clients. McKnight is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

From the Back Cover

“Juilene Osborne-McKnight’s book is an exhaustively researched look at Ireland—the island, the people, the history, and the myths. It’s not a dry, dusty academic text, but neither is it a romanticized, rose-tinted look at the Emerald Isle, and it’s written in a clear, concise storytelling style.”
—Stephen Rea, author of Finn McCool’s Football Club: The Birth, Death, and Resurrection of a Pub Soccer Team in the City of the Dead

“ . . . Informative and accessible. The engaging voice of a natural storyteller draws the reader into the complex tapestry of myth, magic, and historical fact that together form the true story of Ireland. This concise history, tracing Irish development from the prehistoric period forward, brings Irish history to life.”
—Prof. Thomasine Bartlett, MFA, PhD, Tulane University

The title and inspiration for The Story We Carry in Our Bones came to author Juilene Osborne-McKnight in a dream. Given the significance placed on dreaming in Celtic history and tradition, she knew that the book was a must. Growing up in an Irish-American family, Osborne-McKnight listened as her mother, father, grandfather, and aunts told stories of Ireland. In compiling this chronicle of the Irish from ancient times to contemporary America, she pays homage to her ancestry and contributes to her legacy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1455620718
• ISBN 13: 9781455620715
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272
• Illustrator: McKnight Mara