ERIN'S BLOOD ROYAL: The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland

Celtic scholar Ellis traces the history and culture of old Ireland through the family trees of the dynasties that ruled there for 2,000 years (before the 16th-century English Tudor conquests) in this densely written and carefully researched volume. Though Henry VIII successfully sought to "utterly abolish" the family titles, today the modern descendants of ancient royalty claim their Gaelic titles and are given "courtesy recognition" by the Irish state. Ellis's account of the years after Henry's occupation is a gloomy one: only by renouncing their titles and swearing to speak English, for example, could the Irish nobility reclaim stolen lands. While the bulk of the book traces the bloodlines of the grand families of the four Irish provinces—Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Leinster—the best part occupies but a brief chapter near the end. In "The MacCarthy Mór Affair," shoddy investigative work by the Chief Herald's Office (part of the Republic's government) and the Genealogical Office allowed Terence McCarthy, a member of a working-class family from Belfast, to be named Chief of the McCarthy Clan. It's a delicious case of fraud that reads like potential movie plot, and a standout story amidst thousands of years of Irish lore. Photos. (Mar.)

Forecast:The possibility of learning about one's aristocratic ancestry may lead some McCarthys and MacSweeneys to seek this out, but Ellis's history is probably too narrow and focused on Celtic genealogy to entice the average Hibernophile.