Michael O'Reilly – författare

The Showbands phenomenon burst spectacularly onto the Irish music scene in the 1960s, and Spotlight photographer Michael O’Reilly had unique access to the biggest stars of that time.From national treasures like The Royal Showband, The Drifters, The Clipper Carlton Showband, The Dixies, The Miami Showband and Phil Lynott; to heroes of the folk scene like The Wolfe Tones, The Dubliners and Johnny McEvoy; and international visitors including Sandie Shaw, The Everly Brothers, Bing Crosby, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Diana Ross and David Bowie, this personal collection of photographs is a must-have for anyone whose hey-day was spent in the famous dancehalls of the 1960s.Remember it all again – the ferment of the music, the hysteria of the fans and the charismatic stars of that thrilling decade. 'Wonderfully evocative of how it was in the 1960s'Shay Healy

From Jedediah Smith's final moments to persistent rumors of bigfoot, from the rise of an unlikely uranium magnate to the mysterious end of Butch Cassidy, this selection of twelve stories from Utah's past explores some of the Beehive State's most compelling mysteries and debunks some of its most famous myths.

Utah may be best known for its mesmerizingly beautiful high deserts, the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and as the home base for one of the world’s most popular religious groups, but few may know about the Lost Rhoades mine purportedly full of gold treasure, the unseen residents of Heritage Park, or an unusually large, three-toed primate that steals livestock. Each episode included in this book explores unusual phenomena, strange events, and mysteries in Utah’s history. From Butch Cassidy's clever Castle Gate robbery to reported sightings of UFOs and aliens, Utah Myths and Legends makes history fun and pulls back the curtain on some of the state's most fascinating and compelling stories.

This book uses the published compensation of US postmasters to find the revenues of each post office through most of the nineteenth century, providing a proxy for economic activity in the area served by each post office for every two-year period. This disaggregated, high-frequency measure of economic activity makes it possible to see, for example, the impact of railway construction on economic activity or the way in which business cycles differed across regions. Data on postmasters and their compensation also provide insight into social mobility and status, with emphasis on female and African American postmasters and on the transmission of postmaster positions within families.

Sea swimming is the great leveller; we’re all the same in a pair of togs. No one minds who you are or what you’ve done; the question is `are you getting in?’ Popular for centuries, sea swimming has had a recent surge in interest, with a growing community now taking the plunge. Brendan Mac Evilly and Michael O’Reilly, enthusiastic members of this bathing fraternity, chart their adventures in forty-three of Ireland’s most enticing places to swim. Along the way, they meet artists who come to the sea for inspiration and distance swimmers undertaking marathon sea swims. Their conversations with local dippers touch on the history and lore of these stunning locations and confirm Ireland’s vibrant sea-swimming culture. Part guidebook, part travelogue, part analysis of our relationship with the sea, At Swim explores the thrills, fears and joys of sea swimming.