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  • A Lethal Legacy

  • A History of Ireland in 18 Murders
  • By: Fin Dwyer
  • Narrated by: Fin Dwyer
  • Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (16 ratings)
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A Lethal Legacy

By: Fin Dwyer
Narrated by: Fin Dwyer
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Summary

The Instant Top 5 Irish Times Bestseller

From the creator of The Irish History Podcast comes a fascinating look at Irish history through the lens of murder.

In A Lethal Legacy, Fin Dwyer charts 200 years of Irish history, opening up our past as never before, by observing the grand societal changes of our times through the intimate lens of eighteen murders and the lives and communities they altered forever.

From the creator of the critically acclaimed Irish History Podcast comes a ground-breaking exploration of the past, casting its gaze beyond the chambers of power and carnage of battle, and into the lives of the everyday people that lived through those violent centuries. From the desperate retributions of the Land War of the nineteenth century, through the unprecedented tumult of the revolutionary years, to the causes that helped to shape contemporary Ireland, these previously overlooked cases of human tragedy offer a fresh perspective on a history we think we know.

Astonishing, illuminating and compelling, A Lethal Legacy chronicles Ireland’s turbulent past through one of our most enduring fascinations – the act of killing – and in mapping the causes and aftermath of these cases, Dwyer offers us a fresh new understanding of the fires that forged modern Ireland.

©2023 Fin Dwyer (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"These are murders borne of inequality and unfairness in a slowly changing Ireland over the decades. This book is a reminder of how far Ireland has come. Read it so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past." (Dr Marie Cassidy)

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Excellent

I've been a subscriber to Fin Dwyer's excellent podcast for many years now. The insights and education that Fin has to offer is compulsory for serious fans of Irish. He is also an excellent narrator. In this book Fin takes us on an exploration of recent Irish history. Each segment not only describes the murder of a member of our society (and sometimes not) but also details the circumstances in Ireland at the time. In essence, for every murder there's a murderer, but it's a lot more complicated than that. Highly recommended.

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Excellent history of Ireland

Dwyer does an excellent job here of framing the history of Ireland against the backdrop of individual murders.

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Awesome.

Great book. Been a fan of the Irish History podcast for years. Well, read as well.

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Brilliant social history

When reading this book don't expect historic true crime. Instead, Dwyer uses these murders to examine the Ireland of their time and the social conditions which played a role in the killings.

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Very engaging & thought-provoking.

While treating the victims with sensitivity and respect, Fin approaches the last 200 years from a novel angle & avoids the bias, political rhetoric and twisted religious morality that pervades conventional accounts and indeed contributed to these crimes. Highly recommend it.

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loved it

really enjoyed this. such a great way of showing the development of irish society. some of the chapters were all about the history as context to the murder, while some were just focused on the crime itself. i enjoyed all of them.

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