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What’s New: Books, Videos and CDs

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

THE GREAT SHAME

And the Triumph of the Irish

in the English Speaking World

Thomas Keneally

Australian-born Thomas Keneally, Booker Prize winning author of "Schindler’s List," sets out in his latest work to describe in personal and sweeping detail how the Irish survived the great catastrophe of the Famine only to emerge, triumphantly, years later in the new world, a term that, in the context of this narrative, includes both Australia and the United States. Keneally recounts the life stories of some of his own ancestors as well as those of some of the leading figures in the struggle for Irish independence in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

From Nan A. Talese Doubleday. 712pp. $35.

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LIVE IN SEATTLE

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill

County Clare-born fiddle virtuoso Martin Hayes and Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill recorded this disc last January in a packed Tractor Tavern in the city where Hayes now lives. This is the first time a live performance of this brilliant duo has been recorded on disc. Hayes and Cahill have known one another for 15 years. Originally, they were in a jazz-rock band called Midnight Court, but, eventually, both returned to their traditional roots. "Live in Seattle" is Hayes’s fourth Green Linnet recording. Details, (203) 730-0333.

ALL SOULS,

A Family Story from Southie

Michael Patrick McDonald

In this 266-page hardback, Michael MacDonald tells what it was like growing up in a big Irish family in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of poor whites in America. When he was 7, MacDonald and his mother and seven older siblings moved into the Old Colony housing project in South Boston. Subsequently, three of his brothers died and his sister suffered brain damage after being pushed off a roof. Drugs, crime, murder, suicide and corruption were claiming lots of lives in the South Boston of the 1970s — and nobody talked about it. Beacon Press. 266pp. $24.

HERDING CATS

Gaelic Storm

Gaelic Storm, the party band seen in the movie "Titanic," follows up their debut release with this CD. The five-piece band, known for its lively performances, again produces a collection of festive, romping Celtic dance music. From Omtown, a division of Higher Octave Music of Malibu, Calif. Details, log onto www.g’licstorm.com.

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