An accomplished novelist, short story writer, and playwright, Richard Power (1928-1970) was most well-known for his 1969 novel The Hungry Grass. While many of his stories were published in the leading literary journals of the day, his premature death prevented his work from gaining the fame it deserved. Gathered together for the first time, Power's subtle and poignant stories capture the daily lives of urban and rural dwellers in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century. Coming of age, the tensions between tradition and modernity, and romantic love are some of the themes in these beautifully vivid tales. Power explores the interiority of an Irish mother and the thorny navigation of an adolescent girl's coming of age with pathos and humor. This memorable collection, thoughtfully arranged and introduced by James MacKillop, gives new life to an undeservedly neglected writer for fans and scholars of the Irish short story tradition.

At a time when national cinemas in France and Japan have been marginalized on world screens, movies from and about Ireland have attracted huge audiences, capturing top international prizes (The Crying Game) and an Academy Award (My Left Foot).

In Contemporary Irish Cinema, James MacKillop and contributors take a variety of approaches to the treatment of films and film makers. Some contributors are journalists and critics; others are young scholars well grounded in current cinematic and literary theory.

Authors probe cinema's rewriting of Irish history, from the controversial Michael Collins and In the Name of the Father to playwright Stewart Parker's overlooked miniseries on Ulster sectarianism, Lost Belongings. Jim Loter brings the writings of Martin Heidegger to bear on Cathal Black's dark comedy, Pigs. Attitudes toward the institutional church are revealed in Playboys; among the films that figure into Pamela Dolan's work is An Elephant in the Sacristy.

Anthony Kirby and MacKillop's up-to-date filmography of Irish and Irish-related films is the most extensive yet published.