1
Followers
29
Following
Seanachie: A Boston Irish Storyteller and Part-Time Shaman
Books about place, magic, Faeries, Ireland, sex, God, and love
Currently reading
New Orleans as It Was
New Orleans after the Civil War
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland (complete: First & Second Series)
Bright Dead Things: Poems
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
Desire: Poems
Selected Poems 1976-2012
An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry
I Am An Executioner: Love Stories
An Artist of the Floating World
The Irish in New Orleans
This is an astonishingly bad book purporting to be history. It glosses over the actual history of the Irish in NOLA in 76 pages, at least a third of which are photographs. The remainder is largely a cheerleading effort for various Irish benevolent societies; what can only be described as a centerfold shamelessly celebrating the Brennan family of restaurants; and additional advertisements for various pubs and Irish dance troupes. There is little pretense to objectivity, and while the Irish-American contribution to white supremacy is not dismissed, it gets no treatment at all in comparison to the self-congratulatory pats on the back of the Irish clergy. Worst of all, there is no treatment whatsoever of the interaction between the immigrant Irish and the already present persons of color (including free people of color) who made up NOLA at the time. A weak effort at a history; perhaps its treatment of modern sentiment among people who have Irish ancestors has more resonance for those not expecting a work of history.
