Irish Gangs And Stick-Fighting: In The Works Of William Carleton, is a collection of stories about Irish stick-fighters, written in the 19th century, by the Irish author William Carleton. Carleton was a stick-fighter himself, and this is the first time that all of his tales about stick-fighting have been published in one volume. The stories provide many details about Irish methods of self-defense used in the 19th century. They also provide keen insights into the Irish fighting culture and the code of "Shillelagh Law," which guided the lives of Irish fighting men throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Three hundred endnotes, meticulously researched, explain the 19th century Irish and Hiberno-English terms used by Carleton througout the text.

For centuries the Irish have been associated with a stick weapon called the Shillelagh. And for generations of Irishmen, the Shillelagh was a badge of honor - a symbol of their courage, their martial prowess and their willingness to fight for their rights