On This Day

by Myles Dungan, Annie West (Illustrator)

More fascinating, hilarious, and uncanny historical tales based on Myles Dungan’s hugely popular Drivetime segment on RTÉ Radio One. The journey will take you through Ireland’s historic influence at home and from the Irish architect of the White House to the Night of the Big Wind of 1839 (which just about levelled half the country). Find out how Wexford’s Dollar Bay got its name ( it involves pirates) and how the Native American Choctaw Tribe came to the aid of the Irish during the famine. Uncover how a pair of ill-fitting boots may have made all the difference in the bloody Phoenix Park murders, and how the scientist Robert Boyle investigated the ‘prolongation of life’ and ‘perpetual light’.

With illustrations by Annie West, On This Day – Volume 2 is a whirlwind ride through Ireland’s colourful – and often astonishing – history.

304 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2017

About the author

Dr. Myles Dungan (PhD Trinity College, Dublin, 2012) is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and is also Programme Director of the annual Hinterland Festival in Kells, Co. Meath. He currently presents the weekly RTE Radio 1 programme The History Show, writes a weekly column (‘Fake Histories’) for the RTE Radio 1 Drivetime programme, and has worked as presenter of various RTE radio and TV programmes for the last thirty years (Five Seven Live, Rattlebag, Prime Time). He is an Adjunct Lecturer in the UCD School of History and is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards. He has taught Irish history in UCD, Trinity College and the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of more than a dozen books on Irish and American history (including Irish Voices from the Great War, How the Irish Won the West and Mr. Parnell’s Rottweiler). In 1985 he co-founded the Dublin Film Festival with film critic Michael Dwyer. He is now masquerading as a novelist