When it was first published in 1972, Hubert Butler's pioneering masterwork was received with scepticism by his contemporaries. He used linguistics to trace the origins of myths and saints back to pre-Celtic Ireland and Europe, and showed how these stories and names – ancestors of half-forgotten tribes – became absorbed by Christian mythology. The early Irish wove their stories, as did the Greeks, the Hebrews and all early peoples, from the migration of tribes and by wordplay with their tim...

In The Land of Nod is the fourth and final volume of Hubert Butler's essays and crowns a remarkable literary odyssey. As Neal Ascherson writes: 'When the first collection appeared in 1985 he was already an old man/ His fame began to spread across his native Ireland and then across the world. By the time of his death in 1991 readers throughout Europe and America were asking in amazement why he had not been part of their common culture before.' This final offering contains some of Butler's m...

An important study of the dynamics behind Tone's ideal, which disentangles the roots of racialism and nationalism in Ireland, and questions the causes of division between North and South. Butler contends - with precision and passion - that the way forward lies through an understanding of the past and a return to the world of small-scale and personal dimensions.

In this 40th anniversary edition, discover the epoch-defining collection of essays from one of Ireland's great essayists, Hubert Butler.Escape from the Anthill is known for its erudition, elegant prose, and the depth with which Hubert Butler engages with complex issues, offering sharp insights on resisting totalitarianism and defending personal freedom. Drawing on his experiences in Europe before and after World War II, Butler offers eloquent critiques of ideological confo...

With Escape from the Anthill, his first volume of essays, Hubert Butler became universally acclaimed as one of Ireland's most enduring and distinctive writers. In this long-awaited sequel he writes with emphasis on Europe and travel in Russia, China, the Adriatic and America during the mid-century.

A third volume of essays – autobiographical, polemical, political, exploratory – by the most distinctive Irish writer of the age, in the highest tradition of Swift and Shaw. Hubert Butler's remarkable consistency of vision and clarity of mind make him unique among Irish essayists in reconciling diversity of content with unity of impression. The focus of his writing is local, its force and application universal. Like Chekhov, he is an abiding humanist whose work evinces an unsurpassed moral...

Balkanski eseji Huberta Butlera promatraju neke ličnosti i događaje iz povijesti Jugoistočne Europe dvadesetog stoljeća iz perspektive na koju ovdašnja javnost nije navikla. Problem uloge Katoličke crkve i kardinala Stepinca u tragičnom vrtlogu Drugoga svjetskog rata uobičajeno se promatra kroz prizmu klerikalno-nacionalističke apologije s jedne i lijeve ili liberalne kritike s druge strane. Hubert Butler tom problemu prilazi sa stajališta kršćanskog morala, koji je dosljedno i živio svojo...

The Appleman and the Poet, the fifth volume of Hubert Butler's essays, completes a thirty-year odyssey embarked upon by The Lilliput Press in 1984. Our flagship author has finally come home, welcomed by Fintan O'Toole in his foreword: 'One of the great joys of these essays is the discovery of sentences as sharp and lithe as a Toledo rapier.' Beginning with 'Russian Dispatches 1932–1946,' Butler gives an evocative description – from the viewpoint of a bourgeois teacher – of a society in dis...

There is increasing understanding that climate change will have profound, mostly harmful effects on human health. In this authoritative book, international experts examine long-recognized areas of health concern for populations vulnerable to climate change, describing effects that are both direct, such as heat waves, and indirect, such as via vector-borne diseases. Set in a broad international, economic, political and environmental context, this unique book expands these issues by reviving...