The Immortal Irishman: Thomas Meager and the Invention of Irish America

by Tim Egan

Your ancient verses were forbidden from being uttered in select company. Your songs could not be sung, your music not played, your Celtic crosses not displayed. You could be thrown in prison for expressions of your folklore or native art.

You could not vote. You could not hold office. You were nothing.

What had the Irish done to deserve these cruelties? They had refused to become English.

The “quality of the Irish,” the president concluded, is “the remarkable combination of hope, confidence and imagination.”