Arthur's Round

Arthur's Round is the story of Arthur Guinness, recounted here by one of his direct descendants. It tells of Arthur's rise from obscure beginnings and how he laid the foundations for a world-famous brewing empire in Ireland's capital – a story that had never been comprehensively told until this book was published. With a mixture of original research and the insight of a family member, Patrick Guinness has reconstructed the life of one of Ireland's most celebrated yet enigmatic figures, bringing his ancestor, the brewery and the dynasty he founded – and the tumultuous times in which he lived – vividly to life. Arthur is revealed as far more than just a businessman with a nose for a good brew, as he mingled comfortably in a society peopled with such illustrious characters as Wolfe Tone, Richard Sheridan and Samuel Johnson, but was no less at ease with the likes of the Turkish 'doctor' Achmet Borummadel, who turned out to be a Kilkenny conman named Patrick Joyce, or George Fitzgerald, the wastrel duellist who manacled his father to a bear. Arthur's Round sifts the fact from the fiction – correcting many generally accepted myths along the way – and offers the reader an insightful portrait of the remarkable man who created Ireland's national drink.