American Mother

The crowd on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at Manhattan’s Swift Hibernian Lounge, off The Bowery, was energetic. In the back room, Dublin-born author Colum McCann smiled and shook many hands, while also introducing Diane Foley to many of those who’d come out to launch the co-authors’ powerful new book American Mother.

In a new interview with Irish America magazine, McCann confronts an inevitable question – how is it possible to talk about the devastating tragedy Diane Foley had to endure, while at the same time seeing the world as a place that can still offer connections, understanding, and even hope.

One response is the energy, companionship, and camaraderie on display at Swift’s last week. This is also why the story Foley and McCann tell is so important.

Back in 2012, Diane – a New Hampshire native – had worked as a community health nurse, and also managed her own family practice. She’d raised five children with her husband Dr. John Foley, a physician who served six years in the US Army Medical Corps.

When their son James, a one-time teacher who’d become a journalist covering international conflict, was kidnapped by ISIS, the Foleys’ lives took the darkest possible turn. “Jim” was murdered by his captors – a barbaric act posted online.

As The Washington Post noted this week: “None of (Diane’s) immediate family wanted to meet one of the men who had helped take her son hostage and then posted a terrorist propaganda video of him being brutally beheaded. But Diane Foley felt compelled to talk to him.”

That’s the devastating, inspiring journey America Mother chronicles.

Diane also created the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation and became an advocate for Americans held hostage abroad, as well as journalists facing peril while trying to tell important stories.

Listen to McCann explain more about this incredible woman and family. Then read the book that celebrated singer Sting says will “shake your soul out.”