20 Books Every Irish American Should Read
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:
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
by Mary McCarthy
An intellectual writer washes her hands of her past, but acknowledges its benefits.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
Childhood innocence and innocence lost in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The Studs Lonigan Trilogy: Young Lonigan, the Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, Judgment Day
by James T. Farrell
The story of an Irish tough growing up in 1930s Chicago, and what makes him that way.
Trilogy: Year of the French, Tenants of Time, and The End of the Hunt
by Thomas Flanagan
Historical fiction set in Ireland and spans 1798-1921.
Angela's Ashes
by Frank McCourt
This autobiography, written when the late author was past 60, has gained international renown.
American Requiem: God, My Father and the War that Came Between Us
by James Carroll
Carroll, a former priest, and his brand of Catholicism expressed by social justice activism that is not the church of his father...
The Last Hurrah
by Edwin O'Connor
This story of Frank Skeffington's final run for office gives a probing look into the Irish political machines.
Ironweed
by William Kennedy
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a drifter in Albany, New York who talks to ghosts was later made into a film starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
The Ginger Man
by J.P. Donleavy
Banned in the U.S. when it was published in the 1950s, this picaresque tale of Sebastian Dangerfield's racy adventures in Dublin has become a modern classic.
Banished Children of Eve
by Peter Quinn
A story set during New York's Civil War Draft Riots. Lincoln needed bodies; the Irish were coming in droves; and New York was almost burned down.
Charming Billy
by Alice McDermott
The everyday struggles of assimilated Irish Americans in Queens, New York.
Paddy's Lament, Ireland 1846-47: Prelude to Hatred
by Thomas Gallagher
The stories of those who lived through and died in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.
The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Patriarch Joe Kennedy wanted to be president but knew it was not yet the time for an Irish Catholic to reach that height.
Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America
by Kerby Miller
Learn how Irish immigrants got here and the impact of their coming.
A Drinking Life
by Pete Hamill
The popular reporter's memoir explores the complicated relationship between the Irish and alcohol.
How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe
by Thomas Cahill
This book, which argues the case for the critical role of the monks in preserving European culture and history from waves of invaders, became a worldwide phenomenon.
Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster
by T.J. English
This look at Irish gangsters in several U.S. cities suggests a fine line between politics and crime.
How the Irish Invented Slang
by Dan Cassidy
The influence of the Irish Gaelic on English that persists today.
The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America
edited by Michael Glazier
An essential reference tool.
The Irish Voice in America: 250 Years of Irish-American Fiction
by Charles Fanning
The great writers who came over before, after, and during famine times and wrote of how life was "on the other side."
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.