If it's a hymn in praise of the Irish you want, this is the coffee table book for you. We have, it tells us, always been disproportionately influential in all walks of life and in all corners of the globe - and this is truer than ever now that we have peace, an economic boom and confidence and pride in our heritage. We are in the vanguard of exciting developments in everything from literature to e-commerce, sport, architecture, film-making, science, music, politics, banking and, believe it or not, space exploration. Is there anything left?
Well, yes. Publisher Kevin Kelly, in his foreword, adds education and fashion - but admits that materialism has replaced Catholicism and that we suffer traffic congestion, drug abuse, crime and what he calls resistance to refugees.
Sandwiched between wordy but beautifully illustrated articles on the economy, sport, music and so on are the profiles of the chosen 220. Naturally, as Kelly himself states, it's a eclectic list. Most you've never heard of, like leading US hostess Patricia Breen, "Chicago's most eligible bachelor" Sean Conlon, (minus a photo, unfortunately), baseball player Derek Jetter, Peter S. Lynch, "the most successful forecaster and investor in the US", and South African Cathy O'Dowd, who climbed Everest. Others are household names: Bertie Ahern, Gerry Adams, John Hume, Bill Clinton, Tony O'Reilly and Sonia O'Sullivan. Al Gore is there too, despite his Irish credentials being very debatable. There's Gabriel Byrne but no Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny and "the voice of our conscience", Eamon Dunphy.
The pen portraits are succinct, if a bit over-admiring and somewhat short on dates. The emphasis is very much transAtlantic, but then the market for the book is the world. Irish politics hardly feature at all and the real stars come from show business, real business and sport. It is well written and beautifully produced. A handsome edition if ever there was one.
Renagh Holohan is an Irish Times jour- nalist and author of The Irish Chateaux: In Search of Descendants of the Wild Geese, published by Lilliput