Bryan MacMahon Knihy

Bryan MacMahon gives a comprehensive overview of the origins and progress of the Protestant evangelical campaign in West Kerry from 1825 to 1845. These Church of Ireland missionaries were motivated by a desire to save Irish-speaking Catholics from what they saw as superstitious practices and enthrallment to Rome. This study brings personalities to life and records the long-lost voices and values of those on both sides of the religious divide. The work of the evangelicals was widely hailed as a model of a successful missionary campaign; however, it evoked a furious response from Catholic priests. The war of words between clergymen of both persuasions was fomented by rival local newspapers, reaching a climax in a notorious libel case in March 1845.

Winner of the 1993 American Ireland Fund Literary Award. MacMahon is one of Ireland's great writers, a teacher who, to use his own inimitable phrase, has left 'the track of his teeth on a parish for three generations'. This account of his life has all the magic, drama, love of language, and love of Ireland that has made him famous as a talker, ballad-maker, playwright, novelist, and short-story writer of international stature.