Larry McLaughlin was raised in Charleston, West Virginia. He completed his undergraduate education in Virginia before returning to West Virginia for his first job and completing a graduate degree at West Virginia University. The story of his family is much like other families that descended from Appalachian Irish immigrants. They came from mountaineers and valley farmers that pioneered the wilderness of early America. One of his most cherished family photos is the photo of his great grandfather and great grandmother as a young couple standing in front of their ramshackle log cabin in the mountains of West Virginia. The values of resilience, hard work, and steadfast commitment to family were passed down. They are values clearly seen when looking back over family generations, and clearly still prevalent in the land from which these immigrants came.

 

Most of McLaughlin’s career has been devoted to developing research and educational programs in clean energy at colleges and universities in the U.S. He has also had a passion for history and considers himself a student of American writers such as David McCullough and Walter Isaacson. After several extended stays on the Dingle Peninsula and in the Connemara region, McLaughlin became intrigued with Irish history and how specific events shaped the attitudes and politics of Ireland today. It was the connection of Ireland’s ancient past to recent events that inspired The Four Kings of Ireland. It’s a story about sixty years of war, murder, and betrayal that set Ireland on-course to become a divided land, and the hope of saints that still echos in that chasm today.

 

The author believes that one can be both informed and entertained by history, perhaps enriched more fully, if the facts are wrapped in a credible story. The Four Kings of Ireland sets out to accomplish both.