The Irish Book Club

Irish Seattle

The Puget Sound area has been greatly influenced by the Irish, and while many of the names and events are familiar, until now, their Irish connections were rarely acknowledged. Judge Thomas Burke, “The Man who Built Seattle,” had Irish parents. So did Washington’s second governor, John Harte McGraw. John Collins, who left Ireland at the tender age of 10 to seek his fame and fortune, became Seattle’s fourth mayor.

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At age eighty-two and in failing health, Olivia Morrow knows she has little time left. The last of her line, she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave.

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The Irish in Haverhill, Massachusetts: Volume II

Irish immigration to Haverhill, Massachusetts, was a constant from the days of the Great Famine to the present. The immigrants, their children, and their grandchildren have become an integral part of the fabric of the city’s history. Some were teachers, politicians, police officers, and business owners, while others spent their lives as city laborers and factory workers. Whether these new residents were wealthy or poor, well known or little known, their experiences in America could not eliminate their common ties to the Emerald Isle. They collectively share a place in this “family album” of those Irish citizens who called Haverhill their new home. This volume is the sequel to the The Irish in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which was published in 1998. The response to that book was so enthusiastic that the author was overwhelmed with offers of additional photographs for a second volume.

Author

 Dr. Patricia Trainor O’Malley is a professor of history at Bradford College in Bradford, Massachusetts, and is the granddaughter of Irish immigrants to Haverhill. This is her fourth photographic history for Arcadia. Previous works include Bradford: The End of an Era, Haverhill, Massachusetts: From Town to City, and The Irish in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

 Synopsis

The revival of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New Haven is a fantastic story. The parade was organized in 1842 as the captivating centerpiece of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day observance, yet it passed from the urban scene in the early 20th century. For 50 years, it faded from memory; however, New Haven’s Irish community retained a strong determination to honor its patron saint and celebrate its heritage.

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Since Thomas Dongan was appointed governor of New York by King James, the Irish have played an active role in shaping life on Staten Island. From the mid-19th century on, the Irish have comprised one of the largest ethnic groups in both New York City and Staten Island. The Irish have contributed to every facet of island life, including politics, religious and cultural affairs, finance, and athletics.

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It's quite unlikely that Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau could have comprehended the scope of their undertaking in 1764 when they laid out the settlement on the western banks of the Mississippi that was to become the metropolis of St. Louis. Founded by the French, governed by the Spanish, and heavily populated by the English and Germans, the role that the Irish had in making St. Louis what it is today is often overlooked. The Irish are steeped in tradition, and that trait did not leave the Irish immigrants when they arrived in St. Louis and called this place home.

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The Irish have always been an important part of San Francisco. An 1852 census showed that almost nine percent of the city of 36,000 hailed from Ireland; by 1900, nearly a quarter of the population had come here from the Emerald Isle. Today a walk through any part of the city will showcase influential Irish street names such as Downey, Fell, Kearney, O’Farrell, O’Shaughnessy, and McAllister.

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Irish in Youngstown and the Greater Mahoning Valley

In 1796, Daniel Shehy of Tipperary was the first Irish man to settle in Youngstown. In the early nineteenth century, the Ulster Irish moved into the region. Later, massive waves of Irish refugees from the Potato Famine settled in the area and filled the labor needs of the steel mills, canals, and railroads.

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The history of the Irish in Chicago goes back to the days when the city was little more than an outpost on the prairie shores of Lake Michigan. Drawn by opportunities in the growing frontier town, Irish men and women who were fleeing economic hardship and famine in Ireland were quick to make their mark on Chicago's political, religious, and economic life.

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The Irish greatly contributed to the creation of the territory and state of Arizona due to their enterprising personalities and persistence in a difficult environment.

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These short stories are set primarily in the farmland of County Antrim in Northern Ireland during the author’s youth in the nineteen forties and fifties, but some feature Scots-Irish in America and England during that same period.

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From beloved storytellers Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense, and her daughter, bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark, two favorite suspense novels filled with holiday cheer.

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These short stories are set primarily in the farmland of County Antrim in Northern Ireland during the author’s youth, but some stories also take place in the city of Belfast.

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Being raised “old school” in a traditional Irish-Catholic household with a no-nonsense mother and a traditional, old-fashioned father, Renee’ Gatz had a lifetime of hearing their various expressions—profound, funny, and even sarcastic. Without realizing it, these expressions stayed with her and came back to her at the appropriate moments in her life to help her laugh, understand, or survive.

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Three little girls, a brother, and story-weaving Nana make for an adventure of dazzling enchantment.  Join three little lasses, Kaylyn, Kirsten, and Payton, as they set off on a magical adventure.  Last time they visited Nana they discovered a secret-there are fairies in her garden! Now the girls are throwing a garden tea party in hopes that they can once again glimpse these extraordinary creatures.

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Five individual Irish musicians and entertainers come together in this high-spirited collection of true stories of life on the road. It's all here; the bars, the gigs, the guitars, the audiences and the occasional fights; the hotels, club owners and the odd-ball characters met along the way; the women, the camaraderie, the music and more.

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A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home  tells the story of a thirty-year search for the author's grandmother Kate’s Irish roots.

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 This memorable collection of personal stories from locals, tourists, and people of Irish descent allows readers to experience all the magic and beauty of the Emerald Isle. Each story offers a unique look at the country and culture of Ireland- from its breathtaking landscape and friendly people to its rich traditions of food, drink, music, literature, and more.

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 In this big, passionate, colourful novel the Bronx is burning in 1980-82, Bobby Sands is dying, John Lennon is being stalked, the Reagan Revolution has begun and AIDS is about to be identified. But life goes on in the immigrant bars of Bainbridge Avenue as Sean arrives from Ireland looking for his girlfriend, Mary, and finds a lot more than he bargained for. Danny McCorley is a new type of gay hero: a hard-hitting, book-loving, immigrant construction worker with a shadowy past in the Irish Republican movement.

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What happens if you mix the love of a large family, the hope expressed in Irish folklore, and the faith symbolized in Arthurian legend? Get ready for a magical adventure, filled with the clashing of swords and the splintering of jousting lances, the awakening of champions, the confrontation of light and dark forces spanning centuries, and the magic of the movies. Join the Colonna family as they encounter the legend of King Arthur in the flesh with the help of colorful, dynamic and magical characters.

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Green Suede Shoes remembers three decades of a lost New York, and celebrates the music and song in which it now lives.

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Quinn Parker, a retired attorney, begins a family history project to learn about family that his Grandfather, Jeremiah Desmond, may have left behind in Ireland when he fled during the Famine. Quinn's mother sparks his interest in one of their last conversations before she passes away that there were other Desmond family members that did not leave Ireland during the famine years. Quinn's innocent appearing family history project takes a turn he would regret when he discovers a packet of old, yellowed letters written in Gaelic and stored in his mother's basement.

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 Synopsis

More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England’s Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself.

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A Bard’s Tale is a collection of poems inspired by Ireland and her people. This is an interesting work that anyone is sure to enjoy. There are poems about the author's family and tales about the heros of Ireland's troubled history. The author has studied Ireland’s history and is striving to find peace and resolution for Ireland’s troubles. This collection is lyrically, thoughtfully, and passionately written.

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