The Last Blasket King: Padraig O Cathain, an Ri. This item is unavailable.The Last Blasket King: Padraig O Cathain, an Ri

Few would look at the ruins on Ireland's Great Blasket Island and imagine a king had lived there. Yet the King was a very forceful presence on this island. The last was Pádraig O Catháin, 'Peats Mhicí,' who served for about twenty-five years until his death.

GERALD HAYES is the son-in-law of Michael Carney, the oldest living native of The Great Blasket Island. He is co-author with Carney of From The Great Blasket to America - The Last Memoir by an Islander. Based in Springfield, Massachusetts, he holds degrees from the College of the Holy Cross and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. ELIZA C. KANE is the great-great-granddaughter of the last King of The Great Blasket Island and co-producer of The Crest, a documentary film about the King and his descendants. She has taught literature and writing in the United States and France. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and daughter, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the King.