Hello!
I'm a first-year Masters student studying medieval Scandinavia. I'm looking to focus on Norse diaspora colonies in the North Atlantic, but my University (though conveniently located) has only one dedicated medievalist and their specialty is in Italy/Papal History.
I'm looking for some good, scholarly histories of Ireland and the Celtic people in general that I can use to shore up my background knowledge of this particular people. Any recommendations of books and/or authors would be greatly appreciated as they would save me a profound amount of time trying to separate the good from the spuriously sourced. Thanks, as always!
For background, 'Early Christian Ireland' by T.M. Charles-Edwards is pretty good. It covers from Christianisation to the beginning of the Viking period.
I haven't read it myself, but I've also seen 'Early Medieval Ireland' by Dáibhí Ó Cróinín recommended. It's shorter, and covers a longer period (400-1200), but the later bit is probably what you're more interested in anyway.
While not Ireland but in the North Atlantic Alex Woolfs book "From Pictland to Alba 789 - 1070" covers you period and area well. Its pretty comprehensive given the lack of sources for Scotland at the time and his ideas of earlier Scandinavian colonisation of the Hebrides and Northern Isles is particularly interesting.
Also you can get Andersons early sources of Scottish History online for free. Its from 1905 and many of the sources have been reinterpreted since then but it is still an excellent resource to have.
EDIT: I see another user recommended this book first. Take this comment as further endorsement of Woolf's book.
Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. They have all been very helpful.