February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
CROSSING HIGHBRIDGE
A Memoir of Irish America
Maureen Waters
The post-war — World War II, that is — world of the Bronx Irish is one of countless personal stories. But few put them to paper as has Maureen Waters, a Bronx Irish girl who was the first of her family born in the U.S. The starched-collar and somewhat insular world that Waters grew up in, the good and bad of it, would appear to be no more. And yet, there are memories in abundance and lasting links to the more recent Irish inhabitants of a sprawling next parish on the northern edge of New York. Waters is professor of English and acting director of Irish Studies at Queens College. Syracuse University Press. 222 pp. $24.95.
LIAM O’CONNOR
Liam O’Seasnain
Follow us on social media
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Irish Echo
A fast-moving novel which finds its hero, Liam O’Connor, leaving Ireland in 1849 for the western United States. O’Connor fights on both sides in the American Civil War and ends up back in Ireland via a British uniform in northwestern India. At the end, O’Connor returns to Ireland and the woman he had never stopped loving throughout his travels. An old-fashioned adventure that, according to the cover notes, leaves the reader no time to meditate. O’Seasnain Publishing, P.O. Box 337, Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ 07717; (732)988-3055; order@oseasnain.com. 159 pp. $13.95.
VOL 3: FURTHER IN TIME
Afro Celt Sound System
Just in time for summer, the critically acclaimed band Afro Celt Sound System is offering another compendium follows its Grammy-nominated Vol. 2 release, which sold half a million copies. Big names on this one include vocalists Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant. This new CD also features Irish-based Pina Kollars and the first-ever lyrics in English by vocalist Iarla O Lionáird, whose voice is usually heard in Irish. Real World Records.
JOHN HUSTON INTERVIEWS
Edited by Robert Emmet Long
John Huston’s movies, from "The Maltese Falcon" to "The Dead," stand among the classics of 20th Century film. In this book, Huston talks about his directing career and life in Hollywood in a series of interviews conducted between 1952-85, a couple of years before his death. University Press of Mississippi. 232 pp. $18.