(Rounded up from 4.5 stars because this is a unique approach to the subject matter).

The Back of Beyond is the story of author James Charles Roy's leadership of a small pilgrimage/tour group in the rural parts of western Ireland. An American, Roy has written extensively on Irish history (his The Road Wet, the Wind Close is extremely well researched if a bit dry to read). The story is part memoir, part history, and part travelogue. It's a good tale of a tour guide trying to show his group a reality of Irish history stripped of its overly-romanticized tendencies.

Roy's personality is curmudgeonly and slightly difficult, but he is deeply passionate about the topic. He wants his group to see the reality of Irish history through its two weeks in-country, so they tour the backroads and little known places, rather than hearing tales of shamrocks and leprechauns. The story works because of Roy's angst and his passion, but especially because his humor negates his obviously overwritten grumpiness. Its a funny story filled with facts, stories, names and places, but is not the same old tales of a Magically Delicious country.

If you're looking for a romantic tale, look elsewhere. If you want to see the little details - for Roy's thesis is that the best things in Ireland are small and easily overlooked - then read this one.

Truthfully, I've tried reading The Road Wet... a few times now. I recognize that it's good, but it's dry. However, after finishing this later tale, I'm definitely going back to read it in full, recognizing that I'm hearing from a realist who still deeply values the magic of Irish history, from its saints to its overlords, even if that magic isn't the simplistic thing that is usually told to American tour buses.