20 Books Every Irish American Should Read

By Brigid Cahalan
May 27, 2010
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL)

Tom Deignan, writer of the weekly Sidewalks column in the Irish Voice and author of Irish Americans, spoke at the Mid-Manhattan, West New Brighton, and Riverdale libraries last month. The occasion was Immigrant Heritage Week — celebrated yearly in New York City — a great time to remember and honor our immigrant forebears. He has quite an encyclopedic knowledge on the topic of Irish America, and this time he chose to present 20 books that he considers to be required reading for Irish Americans.

In no particular order, here they are:

After Deignan spoke about each of the books, there was a lively discussion about the merits of other books, and perhaps the dubious value of some of the books on the list.