Great Houses of Ireland
This elegant production, the collaborators' third "Great Houses" title after England and Wales and Scotland, follows a familiar floorplan. Handsome photographs of Queen Anne and Georgian exteriors and interiors, including many architectural details, showcase 26 country castles and county seats. The text is graceful and informative, tactfully favoring aesthetics, history, and restoration efforts over strident Republican charges that the mansions are hated symbols of the British Ascendancy and oppression. As editor of the four-volume "Guide to Country Houses" series, which covers 5000 family seats in the British Isles, the author knows houses and how to write about them. The work surpasses coffee-table status through its serious descriptions and outstanding photography. Equally appealing to public library history/travel collections and to academic architecture collections.-Russell T. Clement, Univ. of Tennessee Lib., KnoxvilleCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.