Dublin Day by Day is a panoramic glide through the city’s history with one event assigned to each day of a calendar year. It roves freely through the centuries, culling its material from annals, ancient chronicles, newspapers, court records, chronologies and modern media. The book’s aim is to present a mosaic, a portrait, of the city old and new, today and yesterday – indeed many yesterdays – dusty deaths and fools included.

Many of the events chronicled are part of the city’s known and often turbulent history: but at least as many detail what may seem ephemeral, even trivial – but not to the participants. Robert Emmet, Wolfe Tone, James Joyce, Kevin Barry, the Luftwaffe, the Garda Síochána, the Dublin Fire Service and Shan Mohangi find themselves with strange bedfellows because of the juxtaposition of calendar dates, There are trips to the zoo, the theatre, the cinema, pop concerts – anything goes.