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 an Irish stick-fighter himself, and this is the first time that all of his tales about stick-fighting have been collected in a single volume. The stories provide many details about Irish methods of fighting in the 19th century, and great insights into the fighting culture and code - what I call the "Shillelagh Law" - which guided the lives of Irish fighting men, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Four hundred endnotes, meticulously researched, explain the 19th century Irish, and Hiberno-English terms, used by Carleton throughout the text.

Carleton himself, was an Irish-speaking stick-fighter, who trained and fought as a stick-fighter for much of his early life. That his neighbors, friends and family members continued to do so long after his move to Dublin is evident in The Party Fight and Funeral. Carleton never wrote from a distance, but always from autobiographical material, especially in his earliest short stories like the ones in this volume, and this is further confirmation of the historical accuracy and authenticity of the Irish stick-fighting traditions documented in his works.

"The Battle Of The Factions" tells the story of two feuding Irish clans, the O´Callaghans and the O´Hallaghans, as told by a member of the O'Callaghan family; it has a Romeo and Juliet sub-plot. Neal Malone, the tailor of the O´Callaghan faction in The Battle Of The Factions, is the main character in the comedic, "Neal Malone", the story of a diminutive and heroic fighting tailor. Neal - who wants nothing more than to fight and prove his mettle - is forced to solve the conundrum of getting himself involved in a fight when he is so well liked, even by his enemies, that he cannot find anyone who will fight him. In "The Party Fight And Funeral", a man returns to the village of his youth, only to find that one of his childhood friends has been killed in one of the huge Party Fights which were common in early 19th century Ireland. This sets the stage for numerous anecdotes - some amusing, most incredibly tragic. "The Dead Boxer" is actually a novella set in the 18th century, which involves an Irish stick-fighter and pugilist with a powerful punch, his girlfriend, (who is a member of an enemy Faction - another Romeo and Juliet sub-plot), and a pugilist with a deadly knock-out punch, who seems to make a living extorting money out of the burghers of various towns in Ireland.

All of the tales contained some footnotes explaining Irish words and Hiberno-Irish expressions. I have expanded on this wherever possible, creating in my endnotes, a glossary of Irish terms from the 19th century.

Irish Gangs and Stick-Fighting In The Works of William Carleton, is part of a series of books on Irish stick-fighting and other Irish fighting styles which I hope to publish. Given the currently growing interest in Irish martial arts (reflected in such projects as Martin Scorcese´s flim Gangs of New York), I think it fitting that the works of William Carleton - as authentic and genuine an authority on 19th century Irish stick-fighting as we may ever find - should start this series. (For more information on Irish martial arts and stick-fighting go to JohnWHurley.com)