Irish-American Books

What a pleasure now to have the complete poems of Odysseus Elytis, the Greek winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature, thoughtfully and sensitively translated by the American poet Jeffrey Carson and the Greek musician Nikos Sarris. Elytis was born on Crete in 1911. His family was from Lesbos, the island of another great poet, Sappho, and Elytis often vacationed there. Carson and Sarris both live on Paros, and it is no doubt their familiarity with the nuances of Aegean sun and sea, and their love for that harsh clarity, that gives them insights into Elytis' poetry. The erotic and the sea are themes that Elytis pursues throughout his long life. (He died in 1996.) Eros is love, sensual love, for the kore, the young woman who appears in his poems; she is a muse, and she also embodies the truth that resides within, and beyond, the familiar things of the world-in particular, the archipelago, the sun-drenched world of the Aegean, of Greece. Any translation of poetry may be suspect, but these translations are not only faithful to the Greek but harmonious with the music and the spirit of the original. Elytis encouraged and approved Carson's and Sarris' twenty-year labor of love and diligence, begun in the late `70's when Elytis happened upon some poems of Carson's. Carson, already an admirer of Elytis' poetry, had written, in Greek, a series of notes on Elytis' work, which Elytis arranged to have published. Elytis encouraged Carson and Sarris to capture the flavor, rather than the literalness, of his poetry, but they found that a literal translation in fact best captured the spirit of Elytis' verse. Carson's Introduction and Notes provide informative and concise guidance to the reader new to Elytis. This is the only complete collection of Elytis' poems in any language, including Greek. The poems' bracing adventurousness is not only quintessentially Greek but uncannily American, too, in the tradition of Whitman's sensual inclusiveness and Henry Miller's cosmic exuberance. Elytis may be a healthy elixir for our present minimalist, formalist, confessional fashions. William Borden, North Dakota Quarterly

Odysseus Elytis (1911 -1996) was a very gifted Greek poet who dedicated his life to a love of hope, beauty, freedom and Greek tradition conveyed in words and imagery that leave the reader thirsting for more. It is this insatiable thirst for droplets of human comfort during life's anguished moments and visionary beauty which together give rise to rainbows of hope that is shared by people of all cultures that has made Elytis a "poete sans frontiers", or a poet without borders.

The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis published in 1997 is the first collection of the entire body of poetry of Elytis in any language, including Greek. The translations by Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris do justice to the original poems, providing the reader with the same captivating lyricism and surreal imagery used by Elytis to give voice to the universally human consciousness.

The poetry of Elytis gained the attention of the Swedish Academy which announced in 1979 that Odysseus Elytis had been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature "for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness."

Another honorable recognition was bestowed upon Elytis in 1964 when the renown Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis set Elytis' epic poem The Axion Esti to music and the resulting music and lyrics became so popular that today many Greeks know at least part of the song by heart. The Axion Esti was considered to be the poet's most ambitious poem and was described by the Swedish Academy as "one of twentieth century literature's most concentrated and ritually faceted poems". This poem recounts the world of Eros, including his battle against the darkness created by misunderstanding and hatred, his victory, and the ultimate justification and praise.

Elytis possessed an historical as well as a moral awareness that became a pivotal part of his poems and served as a counterweight to his deep and abiding love of the Aegean with all of its spectacular beauty. Elytis faced the prospect of his own human mortality as well as the manifestation of tragic human evil when he served with distinction at the Albanian front during the Second World War when the Greeks defeated the Mussolini's army in the first allied forces victory against the Axis. The horrors of that military campaign, followed by his brutal experiences with the Nazi occupation of Greece, a civil war and a military dictatorship, provided a significant catalyst for this gifted poet to continue to carry the literary torch in the tradition of Greece's best poetry which identified ideal beauty with moral good and truth.

The art, literature, philosophy and religion of pre-Classical Greece also greatly influenced the lifetime work of Elytis. In many of his poems, Elytis wrote about heroism in the context of the ancient hero upon whom risks, danger and even terror are thrust by Fate, after which the hero bravely confronts the challenge and is transformed by the experience. The hero, to whom the reader can relate from his own life's experiences, is given this opportunity for growth and development through the inevitable wounds, wisdom and willfulness that result from his encounter with Fate's challenge ... wounds that will heal and sculpt scars of remembrance; wisdom that is born of reflection, generosity of spirit and adherence to life's values; and willfulness of the inner strength of our spirit. A reader of his poetry cannot help seeing himself in many of these poems that at the same time serve to inspire and throw down the gauntlet.

I will always remember Elytis as the Poet of the Aegean Sea. He was born in 1911 and began writing poetry in 1929 in the Aegean islands. He later established himself as one of the leading voices of a generation of literary giants, including his fellow Nobel Laureate George Seferis and Yannis Ritsos. Unlike Seferis who spent a lifetime struggling against melancholy, Elytis is widely appreciated by his readers because he finds hope even in tragedy. His poetry clearly reflects his relentless search for the paradise that lives deeply within all of us and his conviction that the discovery of paradise is within our capability as well as our grasp. Elytis' poems celebrate the vitality and vibrancy of the Aegean landscape, the energies of man and his soul and the spirit of nature. He uses the power of language to link myth with history and to confront good and evil. His poetry clearly reflects his love of hope, freedom and the beauty that is in all.

This first collection of all the works of the great master is a must for anyone who endeavors to explore the Modern Greek culture and discover its representation of the universal human experience. This book has become a source of constant inspiration and discovery in our home.

This translation by Jeffrey Carson is a delight for the senses. The poetry of Elytis has stimulated a great number of intellectual reviews, but there can be no true appreciation without experiencing the context of his work. These poems present a life that could be lived only in Greece. No translator who has not tasted that life would be able to capture this essence of Elytis. Carson was chosen for this task partly because of his own life in Greece: because he truly does understand.

An awesome book, but readers should be aware that the "collected" in the title is somewhat misleading. "Collected", yes, "complete", no. In August 1998 _Eros, Eros, Eros : Selected and Last Poems_ by Elytis (his real name was Odysseus Alepoudhelis, by the way) was published, containing his last poems.

In telling the "Mulvaney-true" story of her marriage and life as a reporter, Barbara Fischkin gets to the heart of "true-true." She's funny and warm as she embellishes on reality, taking the reader from the slums of Mexico City to the high-rise expatriate enclaves of Hong Kong to the mountain haunt of Filipino rebels to ringside at a Long Island hockey rink. Barbara hits right on the nose the trade-off that journalists wrestle between the adrenaline rush of reporting a story and the power of personal relationships. Read this book and her first novel, Exclusive: Reporters in Love and War. You won't be sorry!

Barbara and Jim Mulvaney (called Mulvaney) are globe trotting reporters, each trying to outdo the other. This "sequel" to "Exclusive" follows these reporters to Nicaragua on assignment from "Long Island Newsday." At one point Mulvaney buys a baby girl from a poor family and presents her to Barbara, who is understandably nonplussed. After a short period of raising the girl named Caridad ("Charity" in Spanish, named by Mulvaney because the girl had previously gone unnamed), Barbara's mother comes to visit from Brooklyn. On page 129 it is said that the baby leaves, but where Caridad went or who ended up raising her is never said.

Mulvaney somehow manages to get them expelled from the country, so it's on to Mexico. Their son Danny was born there in 1987. After some humorous descriptions of the local protocol, the trio travels to Hong Kong. Danny becomes trilingual, speaking Spanish, English and some Cantonese. While both are searching the globe for that breakthrough story, meanwhile their sons are providing them with news from the home front.

Danny's brother Jack was born shortly after Danny's third birthday; Danny suffers from a severe ear infection and fever. The once verbal child becomes nonverbal and exhibiting autistic behavior. Within a short space of time, he is displaying behavior suggestive of Kanner's autism.

The family returns to the U.S. and settles in California and later, Long Island. The boys grow and thrive; Jack's input makes a good story even better. One especially funny anecdote is found at the beginning of the book. Mulvaney acted a fool at Jack's hockey game and was understandably asked to leave. A copy of the Code of Conduct at the games is included and one can only smile at Jack's take on this as well.

My favorite parts were where Jack describes Danny's behavior and how he accepts him unconditionally. I love the way Jack makes it plain that Danny is a valuable and vital human being with a lot of gifts to share and offer. Hats off to Jack!

A good book. The only thing that could be considered confusing is where the fiction leaves off and real life reporting of their lives begins.

Stop the presses! Confidential Sources confirms that Barbara Fischkin has penned another winner! In her delightful sequel to Exclusive: Reporters in Love...and War, she once again brings her readers along for a wild ride following the escapades of two globe-trotting investigative journalists, "Fischkin" and "Mulvaney." An engaging tale, often poignant yet always entertaining, that allows us to vicariously live the exciting lives of husband and wife reporters searching out that next big news story as they build their careers and along the way, their family. Although the protagonists of Confidential Sources have the same names as the author and her husband, they are fictional characters. Or perhaps, better said, the fictional alter-egos of the real-life Barbara Fischkin and Jim Mulvaney!

Fischkin shows us that life is often like following a juicy news lead; the story you finally report is far different, yet far more interesting, than what you first anticipated. In tandem with her journey to scooping the next big news story from her husband, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist, Jim Mulvaney, she graces her readers with a honest look into the world of autism. With her wry humor intact, Fischkin portrays the heartache, anger, fear and even moments of sheer joy that every family experiences when raising a child diagnosed with autism.

In a delightful surprise chapter written in the voice of her younger son, Jack, one gains insight on how dramatically life is impacted both good and bad, for children living with an autistic sibling. If the real-life Jack is as good a writer as his fictional alter-ego, then the Mulvaney/Fischkin writing talent is secure for another generation. Even at his young age, "Jack Mulvaney" the character has wisdom beyond his years: He recognizes that his older brother, Danny, even without speech and language since a toddler, has many gifts to share, not only with his family but with humanity as well. What a service this book does by showing us how precious life can be when parents fully love and accept every child regardless of obstacles.

If you only read one book this year, it must be Confidential Sources!

Thank you Barbara for finally offering a refreshing narrative on what life is like with an autistic child, as well as how she continues on as "normal" as possible for your other child and career. Barbara treats the reader like a best friend and it helps to abate the loneliness that is often a major part of a parent's life with autism. Now if only I had a large block of time to sit and read the entire book in one sitting!

Mr. O'Clery puts a lot of background information into something most Americans know little about. There is always a lot going on in the background in any diplomatic activity. This is something that Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore missed out on where they should have publicized it more. Mr. Bush, Cheney and McCain - the "you don't talk to your adversaries who are always evil - clique need to read this especially in light of the success of ending the violence in Ireland.

In Ireland, Ulster and Britain, the book was titled "The Greening of the White House" - a much more apt title. That said, it shows how the Clinton administration is committed to shafting Ulster. No fence-sitting here. The US government under Clinton has underwritten pan-Irish national-chauvinist ambitions.

Conor O'Clery knows how to tell a story. Often politics and foreign policy get bogged down in minutae or are blunted by excessive academic language; this is definitely not the case here. The feel when reading Daring Diplomacy is one of being spirited along in back rooms and pubs to see how deals get done and meet those involved. The telling is personal, insightful, and deftly aware of the entangled connections in Irish policy.
If you are reading this as a student, I heartily recommend it. You will find the backstory gives a well-rounded look into some of the reasons why peace in N. Ireland has been so elusive (namely the British government). If you are just reading it for personal reasons, I think you will be quite happy with your choice. A good companion book after this one is George Mitchell's "Making Peace."

Daring Diplomacy was the perfect title for this wonderfully written book. Throughout the course of this book, Conor O'Clery traces the involvement of the Clinton administration in attaining a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Northern Ireland. What is most refreshing about this book is its wholehearted attempt to be honest and balanced--an honor not bestowed on many books written on the conflict in Northern Ireland. From Clinton's commitment during the 1992 presidential election campaign until immediately following the end of the IRA's ceasefire, this book chronicles the efforts of the Clinton Administration to involve all parties in discussions regarding the future status of Northern Ireland. The U.S., at times seeming to threaten the "special relationship" between itself and Britain contributed much to the current political situation in Northern Ireland--one in which we now have Loyalist and Republican ceasefires and a forum for talks on political representation. Daring Diplomacy gives f

The first amendment gives us the right to free speech and for the most part this is a fairly simple concept right? Well in 1994 in Massachusetts this became a complex legal issue that turned a simple parade into chaos.

Riveting from beginning to the very end, this 600-page fact filled legal expose on how our court system really works, is like nothing else you'll ever read. The authors take you on a journey from the state court right the steps of the highest court in the land.

Using actual trial transcripts and painstaking detail, the author's leave no stone unturned. I was simply amazed at how much information was packed into the book. I was simply astounded by the way the system works.

Law professors and students of law need to take and read this work. It is most likely the best book of the first amendment law. A great work in the legal field and a very good read - well done!

As an attorney, what I found most interesting about this book was the use of trial transcripts to help frame the debate on the larger First Amendment constitutional issues. The authors did a superb job of telling a complex story from beginning to end. I would recommend some of my old professors take a close look at this work, and consider using it in trial advocacy and constitutional law classes. I don't remember anything like this when I was at school, but can say it told me a lot more about how the judicial process works than I learned in the classroom.

By far, this book tops all others on how our courts operate. The authors have given a detailed look at the legal system at every level, state and federal, and cover so much territory in so short a space that the book borders on being overwhelming. This is the definitive book on "process". Using rich citation to trial transcripts the authors show in meticulous detail how some judges try to unwrap constitutional guarantees to achieve what they think the law shoud be. I read three other works which aspired to this detail: "Out of Order", "Civil Action" and "Closed Chambers" and can state that none were as insightful as this. This is truly a remarkable work, and should be mandatory reading in every law school in this country.

"Riveting..." National Law Journal; "Compelling... well-written..." Bimonthly Review of Law Books; "Tremendously engaging..." AOB News; "One of the most informativbe law books I have read..." Journal of the Indiana Bar Assoc.; "Chilling, troubling, Kafkaesque..." Prof. Charles E. Rounds Jr., Suffolk Law School

Wendy Lesser asked fifteen modern writers to reflect on their formative experiences with language and culture, and her Genius Of Language is the result: a survey of how writers alienated from their mother tongue embraced English and faced exile from both their culture and their own language. Essays by Amy Tan, Louis Begley and others provide important keys to understanding the process of adapting to another language and all its cultural implications.

This book of short essays assembled by Wendy Lesser is well worth the time and attention of anyone who enjoys language and the craft of writing. It provides the insights of serious authors as each adapted to the English language after being first subject to another tongue. As a bonus, the book is worthwhile in that it gives the reader a quick appreciation of the varied writing styles of fifteen talented authors, in case the reader would like to track down and explore any of their other independent works.

As someone with no ear at all for foreign languages, I find it amazing that these people become writers and then choose to write in what to them is a foreign language. Even more, they write it so much better than the rest of us.

They also reflect on how their bi-lingualism makes their English better. It seems that the effort of learning the second language gives them somewhat of a drive to find ways to express themselves in English what might be an easy thing to express in their own tongue. As a result, they learn ways to use English that stretch the language to its limit.

To have gotten fifteen writers of the caliber contributing essays to this book has to be considered a major coup on Wendy Lesser's part. This book provides an insight to language that is astounding.

If you are at all interested in language, language-acquisition, and how language (multi-linguilism) and life/identity intertwine, you'll love curling up with this book. There are 15 essays, arranged by the non-English (mother-tongue) language of the writer. Each of the six writers I have read thus far have approached the subject in wholly different (and mostly fascinating) lights. Tan is mercilessly sharp and funny while asking how seriously we should take the "language-shapes-reality" theory and while illustrating the fallacies of Chinese language/culture stereotpyes. Ariel Dorfman brilliantly uses an unconventional essay structure to probe and deconstruct his conflicted journey through his bilinguilism (Spanish/English)with extraordinary intelligence and linguistic/psychological force and sensitivity. With such a variety of languages, writers, styles/experiences, what's not to love?

This book (the first volume) is over 600 pages. And they are 600 pages chock full of intelligent analyses and overviews of all the poetic schools in Britian and the US since the 1890s. This book is fascinating in its content and a joy to read because of Perkins' clear and humane style. It is amazing that one person can know so much. But don't let that intimidate you. This book will do wonders for your working knowledge of American and British poetry.

David Perkins's "History of Modern Poetry" gives the reader the essentials of the modernist movement, from its beginnings as a reaction against the outworn Romantic era to the poetry of Ashbery, Ammons, and Merrill in our own age. Brevity is a virtue here: Perkins states the essentials of a poet's life only and so escapes the common error of overinterpretation which most critics commit. The series also pays attention to minor poets who do not rank highly today and past movements in journals and anthology editing so as to provide us with a complete picture of what the past century of poetry has consisted. Highly recommended.

David Perkins's "History of Modern Poetry" gives the reader the essentials of the modernist movement, from its beginnings as a reaction against the outworn Romantic era to the poetry of Ashbery, Ammons, and Merrill in our own age. Brevity is a virtue here: Perkins states the essentials of a poet's life only and so escapes the common error of overinterpretation which most critics commit. The series also pays attention to minor poets who do not rank highly today and past movements in journals and anthology editing so as to provide us with a complete picture of what the past century of poetry has consisted. Highly recommended.

I love poetry. Books like "History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After" fill my bookshelves. I eat this stuff up. But one thing a lot of poetry books do is mush up the sense of it all in the hope of appealing to the academics. Since most regularly published poets are professors in English departments, it works out, but it creates a great divide between the laity and the academic.

What David Perkins has done is explain the basic chronology of poets periods. This is neither an encyclopedia of terms nor an anthology of great poems. Instead, Perkins takes a period, affiliates the poets major within that period and explains their context and importance.

He keeps it simple without talking down to the reader.

Essentially, it is a collection of intelligent essays. Some are topical, like "The Postwar Period" while others are poet-specific, like "W. H. Auden."

Perkins writes clearly. It isn't trying to impress you, but he is trying to help you understand Eliot and onward.

I read it for personal growth, but it would make a solid textbook, in tandem with Perkins' other volume covering the previous eras.

I fully recommend "History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After" by David Perkins.

Anthony Trendl

I had this book recommended to me by someone in one of my genealogical mailing lists.

I highly recommend it.

There is much to be written about the Irish in Philadelphia and this book certainly goes into great detail about the emigrants. It tells the conditions of the city, famillies and how they lived, worked, died. I have read it several times and will read it again and again.

A family member in Northern Ireland picked up my book and read bits of it while visiting. I was asked to get a copy for them to take back to Ireland as they wanted to know more about the emigrants and their lives after they left the old country.

This was a very informative book about how the Irish in Philadelphia affected the city, and how the old establishment of the city was able to keep the Philadlephia Irish from gaining the same political power as those from New York and Boston. It is not a very easy read, due to the fact that it contains many facts and figures, but is nonetheless a very informative work about the forgotten Irish-Americans of Philadelphia, and why they were forgotten.

The thing I most liked most about this book was that the author went into detail about the conditions of life in Ireland for these people. Whether they came before the famine or after, these folks didn't just get off the boat and become Americans. They brought with them a rich culture and way of life. If you are Irish and from Philadelphia, this book will mean something to you.

I originally purchased this book in a sales bin at Barnes and Nobles and I have to say once I started it, it was a fight to put it down, even to eat. The first story, Galaway Bay, was so touching to me I cried all night. The other stories were written with talent and grace. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants emotion from a book.

This book will not appeal to everyone and is reviewed in the context of the intended audience. It is a collection of four novelettes by master storytellers. The first story, "Galway Bay" by Morgan Llywelan, is a change of pace for readers familiar with her full length historical novels. It is set in modern times, and concerns a part-Irish woman on vacation in Galway, Ireland, who encounters the underlying realities of Irish folklore and discovers romance in an unexpected place. The second story, "The Harpers's Daughter" by Barbara Samuel, is set in ancient Ireland and concerns Deirdre, destined to be the bride of a king, but she loves another. Expressed in Deirdre's thoughts (about other women in the king's court), "One of them, one day, would have the warrior who'd snared her heart, while she would lie with the fat, old king. It wasn't fair." Deirdre is cursed with extraordinary beauty that creates uncontrolled lust in the minds of any men who see her. Can she find a refuge with the man she loves, and will magic protect them? The third and fourth stories deal with connections to the spirit world in an ancient Irish setting. The third, "The Trysting Hour" by Susan Wiggs, is about a spirit that can assume a mortal man's shape, and who desires a woman meant to be a king's wife. Can he win her hand while he prevents the king from consumating the marriage? And is she really an ordinary mortal woman? The fourth, "Rarer than a White Crow" by Roberta Gellis, has a man placed under a spell by a shape-changing witch with her own agenda (which can only be guessed at). People are at an interface between the spirit world and the mortal world. Angus must win the hand of Caer and love her til the end of her days in order to be free from the spell, but that is easier said than done. Can they thwart the real agenda of the witch? The book contains explicit sex and violence. It is an excellent set of stories for those interested in this type of fantasy romance.

Wonderful stories of magic, romance, and irish lore. If you like to curl up at night with a short story, this is a great book for you. I was delighted with this book and with Irish Magic II.

when you're in the mood for some short whistful escapist romantic stories in a celtic setting, pick up this one. good for a rainy sunday afternoon.

This is the best collection of Milton works available that I know of: sturdy, with thick white pages offering ample room for note taking, numerous footnotes, rare works such as Christian Doctrine (which is extremely interesting)and writings from people who knew Milton. Nothing more needs be said. The price, $40 something, is insanely cheap if you consider how much you're paying per work - probably comes out to a couple dollars each.

A lifetime of Milton resides between the durable covers of this book, inexhaustible hours with one of the greatest writers of the English language. Truly, this is one of the most enjoyable books I own.

Coming from someone who was so frugal that my choice of major in college was influenced by the fact I could find most required reading for a dual degree in philosophy and English literature in the library rather than pay my hard earned money for books that were not worthy.... this is my strongest possible recommendation: This was one of the few texts I actually shelled out money for in college without regret and would even purchase AGAIN! ( My copy was destoryed by Hurricane Isabel) I have fond memories of studying Milton, and when he seemed at his most confusing the notes in this text were wonderfully clear.

Others have suggested the Norton is the edition for college students. I disagree. The Hughes edition is definitely worth the money. The notes are the best -- in reading criticism on Milton, there's usually plenty of references to Mr. Hughes's notations themselves. This is the standard, accepted text. This is the complete poems, with his Latin and Italian poetry appearing ajacent to an English translation. There's a generous selection of Milton's prose, too.

Spend the wad and buy the book. If you're reading this, then you're a bibliophile, no doubt. For the rest of your life wouldn't you prefer to have the best edition of Milton on your shelf, or will you be satisified with a $9 Signet Classic? (I tossed mine.)

Check out the Dore Illustrations for PL, too.

BTW, after reading Areopagitica, I believe that everything Jeffereson said was a debt to Milton.

This is still the most extensive, best-annotated, one-volume Milton set available. As the blurb above indicates, Hughes presents all the poems and prose in chronological sequence, so it is easy to trace the great poet's increasing facility, and later mastery, in both areas. We start with Milton, the fifteen-year-old student, translating Psalms from the Hebrew as well as passages from the love poems of Ovid and Properius. We then follow him to Cambridge, where he really starts assimilating all his classical studies, first fashioning imitative Latin elegies followed by his first poems of native genius, "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity," "On Shakespeare," "L'Allegro and Il Penseroso."

Hughe's edition is invaluable as a tool for students, scholars, or general readers. The notes never get in the way of the text, but will lead the reader to relevant sources should he/she desire to learn more about a given allusion or want more background. If the reader is patient, and actually reads all the material that comes before "Paradise Lost", he/she will be rewarded with a richer understanding of Milton's magnum opus. Please be advised that if you have made it that far, don't stop there. "Paradise Regained" and "Sampson Agonistes" are powerful examples of epic poetry as well. I personally feel that "Paradise Regained" has had almost as large an impact on modern fiction in particular (Dostoevsky and Flaubert are prime examples)as has "Paradise Lost."

Blake said that Milton was of Satan's party without knowing it. Actually Milton's prose does open up some interesting possibilities in that sphere. In "Areopagitica" he advocates for the necessity of evil. He was, as history has amply recorded, hardly a defender of central authority. He was emphatic about individual liberty and wouldn't be dictated to by Pope or King.

There are several short early biographies of the poet at the end of the book. All paint a portrait of an idiosyncratic genius who suffered numerous setbacks both physical and political, particularly in his last decades. He was an extraordinarily brave man, who has taken some heat from Virginia Woolf and later feminists for his "ill use" of his daughters, who, the line goes, he kept in ignorance and near slavery so that they could aid him as ameneunses after he went blind. If such detractors had actually done any wide reading on the subject (Shawcrosse is an excellent source) they would not have made such charges. Though not what could be described as a "loving father," Milton certainly never inveighed against his daughters to remain "indentured" to him, nor did he subvert any marriage plans they arranged (none were forced into "arranged marriages" either, though the practice was still common in that era). He didn't tutor them in the Languages he asked them to transcribe, per se. But this begs the question, if they were'nt taught Latin, Greek and Hebrew, how would they have been able to act as scribes in those languages in the first place?

I'm sorry to see that this volume is now almost $100. In this day of large trade paperbacks, perhaps a more affordable edition will be forthcoming.

Primary sources the plenty with this book. The text might be too advanced for an elementary classroom but that doesn't matter because the foldouts and pictures that come with it accurately describe life then. Seriously buy this book, you can use it in so many ways or even if you are just interested in history.

I love this book! I first saw it several years ago but didn't have the money to buy it. Then I wished later I had bought it (this was before Amazon came along). Thank goodness for Amazon because now I have this wonderful book! It's an "interactive" book, with pull-outs like a sample of what a letter from Ireland to the US was like, and a sample of a ticket at Ellis Island. That sort of thing. It's interesting! All Celtophiles should have this book!

The book is a treasure. The love and care are evident in its making with all the little nooks and crannies filled with surprises for the reader. The authors return to you more than poetry and information, they surprise you with gifts on just about every page. Delightful.

This is a great book to get for yourself or for anyone interested in a quick but very compelling read about the history of immigration from Ireland to America. I'd particularly recommend it for young readers, as it contains a wide assortment of compelling pull-out letters and other "souvenirs" showing everyday items from and about those brave immigrants who left behind their homeland, its poverty, and starvation for a more hopeful (though far from easy) life in America.