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The Irish Way: Becoming American in the Multiethnic City
A lively, street-level history of turn-of-the-century urban life explores the Americanizing influence of the Irish on successive waves of migrants to the American city.
In the newest volume in the award-winning Penguin History of American Life series, James R. Barrett chronicles how a new urban American identity was forged in the streets, saloons, churches, and workplaces...more
In the newest volume in the award-winning Penguin History of American Life series, James R. Barrett chronicles how a new urban American identity was forged in the streets, saloons, churches, and workplaces...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
March 1st 2012
by Penguin Press HC, The
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Books like "How the Irish Became White" deal with how 19th century emigrants assimilated into WASP society. This book is about the groups that came after them--the Poles, Italians, Russians and Eastern European Jews, all of whom found on arrival that Irish people dominated virtually every aspect of working class city life, from the police to the Catholic parishes to the political machine that assured jobs, shoes and emergency fixes. Barrett's thesis is that because of this established lock on th...more
Reading anything about the Irish is a passion for me so anytime I am offered a book about Ireland and its people I jump at the chance. The Irish were the first ethnic group in America and no matter how long the Irish have been here they always feel that Ireland is 'home' but also proud to be American. With their lives deeply rooted in their origins, be it religion, culture etc. they are always passionate.The Irish Way delves into the Irish in America in a way that is easy to understand and very...more
Well researched book on Irish immigrants assimilating into American culture in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Stories of their interactions with immigrants from other countries provides ancillary information about assimilation of those groups as well. I enjoyed the section on the remarkable upward mobility achieved by Irish American women in the early 1900s, and the section on politics. Other than that it was a little dry for me; I just prefer greater focus on individual stories than the big pictur...more
Interesting book that centers on the story of Irish American influence over later immigrants. The author argues convincingly that the Irish often defined what it meant to “be American” for later immigrant groups.
Please read my interview with James Barrett here: http://www.washingtonindependentrevie...
Please read my interview with James Barrett here: http://www.washingtonindependentrevie...
Apr 07, 2012
Ted Lehmann
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People interested in social and cultural American History
Recommended to Ted by:
TLC Book Tours
The Irish Way is serious social history for the serious reader. It examines the process of becoming American through the Irish experience in America from the 1830's until, roughly, the end of the Great Depression. Read my full review here: http://tinyurl.com/7j3j5ar
An interesting fictional companion piece would be Dennis LeHane's "The Given Day," a fine novel (his best yet) set in Boston during the 1919 police strike and influenza epidemic. You can read my review of this novel here: http://tinyu...more
An interesting fictional companion piece would be Dennis LeHane's "The Given Day," a fine novel (his best yet) set in Boston during the 1919 police strike and influenza epidemic. You can read my review of this novel here: http://tinyu...more
Strangely enough, or not, this book goes well hand in hand with Fraternity. It offers detailed background on how reviled the Irish were but also how determined to succeed and why.
An excellent book about the Irish American experience in the. U.S. and particularly focused on the immigrant experience and how it shaped the. Urban landscape.
I wanted to love this book. It was filled with fascinating details and theories, and had direct relevance to my own family's history. However, it was very dry reading and a trial to plow through it.
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