February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
IRISH AMERICA
COMING INTO CLOVER
The evolution of a people and culture
Maureen Dezell
The story of the Irish in America has been tackled by many writers over the years, proof positive if nothing else that there is indeed a story worth telling. But getting the story straight is something of an exercise in frustration because one person’s stereotype is not infrequently another’s coveted image. As such, there is always a risk in attempting to portray Irish America in a manner that merely debunks one version only to replace it with another. Who has copyright on the essential ingredients that make up the self-sustaining subculture that is Irish America? Still, Maureen Dezell, a journalist with the Boston Globe, strongly advances the cause of reconciling perception with accuracy in her detailed and well-researched study of the many trends, traits, attitudes and characteristics that have made Irish America such a potent and enduring phenomenon. Doubleday. 272 pp. 24.95.
IRISH IMMIGRANTS IN
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NEW YORK CITY
1945-1995
Linda Dowling Almeida
This book focuses on the story of Irish immigrants in New York City from the end of World War II until 1995, a year by which some of those same immigrants were already being pulled back to an Ireland that was fast shedding decades of economic lethargy and social stagnation. Linda Dowling Almeida, an adjunct professor of history at New York University and a member of the New York Irish History Roundtable, brings a degree of academic rigor to this book and, as a result, it will stand as an important reference for those seeking a better understanding of the changing expectations and ambitions of newly arrived immigrants who, while all being Irish in name, did not necessarily come to America from the same Ireland. Indiana University Press. 211 pp.
DEATH OF A SOLDIER
A mother’s search for
peace in Northern Ireland
Rita Restorick
Stephen Restorick was shot dead on Feb. 12, 1997 in South Armagh as he chatted with a woman at a checkpoint. He was, hopefully, the last British soldier to die in the Northern Ireland conflict. He most certainly would be if this, his mother’s tribute to him, were read by those still inclined to fight the so-called "armed struggle." His mother tells the heartbreaking story of her love for him, her grief at his killing, and her struggle to turn that emotion into a quest for peace so that "no more mothers, no matter on what side, have to face the death of a son." Blackstaff Press/Dufour Editions ([610] 458-5005). 240 pp. $19.95.
PADDY BOGSIDE
Paddy Doherty and Peter Hegarty
When they name you after a symbol, they are pushing you to the front of the line. The Bogside in Derry became a symbol of resistance the world over when the Troubles in the north erupted in 1968-69. Doherty, a longtime community activist, quickly emerged as one of the leading civil rights leaders in what the city that largely gave birth to the campaign for Catholic and nationalist rights. Irish Books & Media, ([800] 229-3505 or IRISHBOOOK@aol.com). 280 pp. $15.95.