Crazy Dreams

A poignant and introspective memoir from Irish journalist and broadcaster Charlie Bird.

In this people's history of Ireland, John Creedon introduces a treasure trove of old stories, ways and wisdom, collected by schoolchildren as part of a nationwide project set up in the 1930s to preserve Irish folklore. Published here for the first time, this 'best of' selection includes chapters on ghost stories, agriculture, schooling and pastimes

In this powerful and brutally honest memoir, John Crawley starts with the gruelling challenges he faced in a US Marine Corps boot camp. Following his discharge, he joined the IRA; not long afterwards he was sent to Boston to work with notorious American mobster James ?Whitey' Bulger to amass an illegal shipment of weapons for the IRA. Captured on the Marita Ann gun-running trawler off the Kerry coast and imprisoned, upon his release he became one of the masterminds behind a campaign to knock out London's electrical system. Crawley is blisteringly candid about the people he worked with and unflinching in his commentary on the IRA leadership and their tactics, both military and political. Through it all comes the steadfast voice of a man on a mission, providing an evocative and passionate account of where that mission led him and why. To this day, he remains committed to the establishment of an all-Ireland Republic.