February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The front cover, a “road bowling” scene from an Irish country lane in the 1950s, is a snapshot of an Ireland that should never be allowed completely disappear. With a foreword by Neil Jordan. Sterling (www.sterlingpub.com). 240 pp. $24.95.
THE KENNEDY MEN, 1901-1963
Laurence Leamer
Leamer won a lot of praise for his writing style and ability to spin an old story anew when this book first came out in hardcover. The story of the Kennedys, and the men in particular, is one that never seems to fade and will doubtless be dusted off in the coming year as we approach the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. Perennial, a division of Harper Collins. 882 pp. $17.95.
FATHER OF THE MAN
Robert Mooney
Robert Mooney’s debut novel is set in an Irish-American community in Binghampton, N.Y. But it is as much a story about time and the reconciling of bitter pasts and generation differences. The central character, “Dutch” Potter, is a World War II vet who suffers depending anguish because his son is an MIA in Vietnam and the government doesn’t seem to care. Potter’s internal agony pushes him into a situation that is becoming all too familiar in contemporary America: alienation and violence. Pantheon. 228 pp. $23.
LOVE IN A DARK TIME
Colm T