Other Books

When the GAA purchased what became known as Croke Park in 1913, they cannot have imagined it would become the third largest stadium in Europe, host over 80,000 people at international rugby and soccer matches and become an icon in Ireland’s national consciousness. Here is the story of ‘Croker’ from the beginning, featuring great games, personalities, dramas and non-GAA events. Reminiscences by renowned players, officials and others add colour to the history. The magnificence of the stadium and its past is reflected in the fine collection of photographs and illustrations. This updated edition includes new material on the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth II, the effect of the end of the Celtic Tiger economy and the challenge presented by the new Aviva Stadium.

Irish Independent

“Tim Carey…performed a true gaisce when he produced a book which subtly blends scholarly research with breezy personal anecdote and tells a compellingly honest account of the most precious pairc in Ireland.”

The Irish Times

“Carey traces the difficult, steady journey from relative poverty to breathtaking magnificence with the detached, convincing style of an accomplished historian…Carey tells a spellbinding story…It will grow in significance throughout the years.”

The Kerryman

“For the first time, a definitive history of Croke Park has appeared in print and it makes for fascinating reading.“

Munster Express

“This book is an absolute gem and will appeal to a wide range of people.”

Sunday Business Post

“One of the most impressive historical tomes written about the GAA to date.”

The Sunday Times

“An immaculately laid out piece of work, Carey’s Croke Park is an appropriate tribute to such a celebrated place.”

Between 1923 and 1954 the Irish state executed twenty-nine people convicted of murder. Almost all executions were carried out in the hanghouse of Mountjoy Prison by members of the Pierrepoint family. The often shocking and fascinating stories of these men and one woman have been largely forgotten. Their remains lie behind prison walls as strange testaments to an abandoned form of punishment.

Among those buried in Mountjoy are Bernard Kirwan, convicted of killing his brother, though a body was never conclusively identified. Kirwan’s presence in Mountjoy Prison and his execution inspired Brendan Behan’s play The Quare Fellow. Also there lie Henry McCabe, convicted of killing six people in a house in Malahide, and Annie Walsh, convicted of murdering her husband for compensation money. Few had ever been convicted of a crime before each was convicted of the most serious of all. The voices of some seem to whisper from the unmarked graves that it was not they who carried out the crime as doubts remain about the safety of some of the convictions.
Hanged for Murder tells their stories, some in graphic detail, for the first time.

Pat Kenny, Newstalk

“This is fascinating stuff.”

Sunday Independent

“A gem…”

writing.ie

“Non-fiction at its very best.”

Mountjoy is an epic story. Since 1850, a cast of over 250,000 people has passed through its walls. They included ordinary prisoners, thieves, and the most vicious of murderers, as well as some of the most famous figures in Irish history: O’Donovan Rossa, Eamon de Valera, Hanna Sheey Skeffington, Arthur Griffith, and Brendan Behan. The story of this city of cells is intertwined with historical issues and events that set it in a broader context: the invention of prisons, how they were viewed by society and those who inhabited them, capital punishment, and the role of the prison in Irish history, especially during the Civil War. This book opens a new window on Mountjoy’s remarkable and often bizarre history.

Irish Independent 

“Carey’s book is more than just the story of a prison.  It also offers a fascinating account of the history of prisons in Ireland generally, and a great insight into social conditions over the years.”

The Irish Times.

“Mountjoy is a story not just of a prison but of how a penal policy has been and is being used as an instrument of social unfairness and of how that penal policy has failed spectacularly to meet the goals it set for itself.”

Sunday Tribune.

“Carey’s enthralling book provides a rapid, kaleidoscopic tour of the many difference phases of Mountjoy’s 150 years of history…Carey’s story never fails to fascinate…Every page is brimful with facts and intriguing quotations and there are numerous fascinating illustrations.  Carey has an unerringly intelligent eye for the telling detail and the revelatory quotation. ”

Irish Literary Supplement

“The author’s ambitious grasp of the entire Irish penal system promises to serve as the foundation for future generations of Irish social historians.  This book stands as an example that attracting a popular readership need not compromise its value among specialists.”

Between November 1920 and June 1921 ten Irish men were hanged in Mountjoy Prison.  Each of the ten were volunteers in the struggle for Irish independence.  Through the use of documentary evidence Hanged for Ireland traces the live of these men, from their initial involvement in the republican movement to the court martial and execution.  Using previously unpublished personal correspondence  and photographs to tell their story this is an intimate and compassionate account of their lives and tragic fate.