Irish-American Books

Scholars and history buffs of the Progressive era will value this collection of essays by Randolph Bourne. Reading the original essays delivers the reader from relying on secondary resources. Moreover, this collection contains the significant Bourne essays. Particularly valuable are the essays outlining Bourne's disagreement with leading Progressive intellectuals, particularly John Dewey. Also, Bourne's thinking regarding the connection between the modern state and war is very interesting.

Authentic, few words wasted, chilling, a nightmare retold. A warning about how communism can eat a country and kill people. The depth of common men committing senseless crimes against each other described by a survivor. A warning against being complacent in the face of totalitarianism. Don't trust any totalitarian communist regime in a large country, or in a small country.
This is the real memory of a humble man, not made up. Kopasci was a compassionate man, but he has seen the horrors.

To understand Hungary between 1945 and the 1970s, this is an important book to read.
If your parents have fled Hungary in 1956, this may help you understand. Buy a copy to keep in the family. Don't forget.

Weathering, Ann Zell's first full collection, celebrates old friends and tough women; explores the complexities of family relations. An American, Ann Zell has lived as a voluntary exile for over half her life. Not identifying herself either as an irish or an American poet, she ranges back and forth between times and places, childhood and middle age, Idaho and Ireland. The attachment is to particular people, particular landscapes. The collection's title 'Weathering' relates to resistance, fighting back, holding on, living through; natural things and people continuing to exist.

The only girl in a large Mormon family, Ann Zell was born and raised on a potato farm in Idaho. After years of schooling, mothering, casual jobs and radical politics at street level, she began writing seriously in her early fifties during a stint as a medical secretary in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. She lived in New York and London before settling in West Belfast in 1980. She is a member of the Word of Mouth poetry collective, and her work has been published in many publications, including, Virago New Poets, The Atlanta Review, Word of Mouth (Blackstaff), and Poetry Ireland Review.

I first came across a copy of Weathering by Alastair Reid whilst browsing the poetry section of our little library in Inverness, Scotland. I was immediately captivated! His poetry is wonderfull simple, simple words, simple subjects. But within this simplicity lies a cunning hook, and suddenly you find yourself transported to some lonely sea shore, reliving some personal romantic moment, or back to your very first school lesson. The imagery will bring a smile to the face, a tear to the eye, a wrench to the heart. This book really is an absoulute gem, and I cannot recommend it highly enough..... But beware! Once your friends find out about your purchase, you may never see it again! A must for any xmas, or birthday, all ages, all walks of life. Enjoy!

I don't know how much professional historical training Tom Lewis has had, but, he has written one of the most interesting works of Colonial American histography that I have ever come across in "West from Shenandoah".

The beauty of "West from Shenandoah" is that it is part histography and part personal journal.

One of the most interesting aspects is early in the book when Lewis raises the possibility of genetic memory in a very deft way, so as not to come off as kookie, or trite as in the sense of deja vu.

I do have some very minor quibbles with Thomas Lewis, but, they have to do with my viewpoint as a Pennsylvania Dutchman.

For example, a few years ago, I was standing on an overlook in the Blue Ridge above the Shenandoah Valley, when I was approached by another Dutchman. This gentleman says to me, pointing down into the valley, that's my farm down there, and in my 64 years, I've never been up here before.

Lewis does characterize the "Dutch" as Lutheran, which he would have a tough time proving, because there were no Luthern churches that I know of on the Virginia frontier which would have included modern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. The "Dutch" mostly subscribed to that odd blend of Calvinism & pietism that we today know as Methodists or Presbyterians.

In the final chapter of the Journal Lewis names some folks of Scotch-Irish ancestry---I'm sure this was a little add on suggested by his publisher for the Scotch-Irish audience. It probably can't help commercial sales, but, it does detract from the histography.

I have always thought that I would love to do, what Lewis has done for the Scotch-Irish, for the Pennsylvania Dutch on the Virginia frontier. Although, there was so much early inter-marrige between the two groups that who's who today might be difficult in my opinion.

"What Parish are You From", a powerhouse of sensitivity, insight and humanitariansim, describes the fatherly role of the Catholic Church in immigrant America, how forces both inside and out of the realm of Catholocism were faced and how finally the neighborhoood ethnic Catholic churches met their Waterloo. The diluted essence of a neighborhood church changed the relationship of parishoner to parish forever...it was no longer able to "shelter" its people.

Farah Jasmine Griffin's invaluable book brings together a wide variety of sources -- from novels and poetry to photography and music lyrics -- to illustrate how migration has impacted African-American life and art. The writing is smooth and concise, but I particularly enjoyed the way Griffin creates a new vocabulary for discussing urban/rural cultural representations. She also looks at the way gender impacts migration narratives, which I found helpful. This work would be extremely helpful to anyone studying African-American literature, particularly Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, or Gloria Naylor as well as blues singers and the artist, Jacob Lawrence.

Wild Irish Rogue is fun, funny, and thought-provoking. It's a love story with a twist, a handsome Irish hero, a bookish but beautiful heroine, and a cast of endearing supporting characters plucked from the fertile imagination of the author, Suzanne Barrett.

It made me laugh; made me ache; made me cheer. Plus the writing is superb. --Lynna Banning

Ibson's book is absolutely brilliant in the way it looks at Irish-Americans on their own terms. The Irish have not simply been assimilated into American culture; they continue to retain a rich cultural and ethnic heritage that manifests itself in numerous ways, from humor, politics, popular culture, and almost every aspect of Irish-American life. This is a must read for anyone interested in American history or Irish-Americans. The book is tough to get, but it is all the sweeter when you get your hands on this little gem.

Dennis Silk has a grand insight into how things work in theater. HIs extensive work with large puppets, his poetic soul, his life long love of theater make this a must have book for small theater groups to use. More of these pieces should be seen.