Book description
Where is Ireland's soul? This is the question that surface time and
again in Ireland Unhinged, a searching, sometimes scathing,
often hilarious journey through a country that in the space of a few
years has fallen from the dizzy heights of the 'bouncy-castle' boom to
the bewildering depths of the crash.
Ireland Unhinged is a story of reverse emigration to Cork
City and then rural Waterford, from cosy US confines to the true Wild
West of these last years. David Monagan's sharp eye pinpoints the
excesses and absurdities of modern Ireland. But his real search is for
the enduring essence of his adopted country, as revealed in his
meetings with literary legends, with witches and monks, with property
developers and gnomic farmers.
Itis a riveting memoir of a family adapting to a strange land,
and an unflinching portrait of Ireland today.
A native of Connecticut and veteran journalist, David Monagan moved
to Ireland with his wife and three children in 2000, settling in Cork
City. He has written widely about his adopted country in various
publications, including
The Irish Times
, the
Sunday Independent
,
The Examiner
,
The Dubliner
magazine, the
Sunday Times
and
Forbes
. His previous work of travel literature,
Jaywalking with the Irish
, was published in 2004 to great acclaim; Frank McCourt called it 'a
hard, beautiful book . . . written with love . . . wit, charm and
compassion. You won't find a better or truer depiction of Ireland.' He
is also the author of
Journey into the Heart
(2007), a tour-de-force about charismatic medical pioneers.
