A shy priest from Cavan who helped tame a frontier town. Imagine him, pale Irish skin against a black robe. On that bright spring morning in 1845 when he first arrived in the little town that was fast-filling a mud shelf overlooking the Missouri River, the Indians – the Shawnee in their calico flocks and turbans, the Sac and Fox with their shaved heads and painted faces – … [Read more...] about Founding Father
Archive
Donald Keough
The Philanthropist
Donald Keough, former president of Coca-Cola, is chairman of Allen & Company. A leading Irish-American philanthropist, he has played a leading role in strengthening the tie between the U.S. and Ireland.
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Peace is taking that cloud of anxiety off the whole island. I think that you are going to see its benefits written large for future generations. It is just … [Read more...] about Donald KeoughThe Philanthropist
Sláinte! Irish Eats Down Under
Regular readers have probably deduced I'm a boomer – a member of that generation born after WWII when the troops came home. Along with more than one hundred thousand other Americans, my Da spent the war years in Australia. In 1942 with Australian forces off fighting for England and Pearl Harbor a fresh victory, Japan advanced on Australia, intending to use it as a … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Irish Eats Down Under
Music: Rockin’ 15
The musicians who made being Irish "cool." The year was 1985. At roughly about the same time that U2's Bono was stage-diving into the massive crowd gathered for Live Aid, the charity concert organized by former Boomtown Rat Bob Geldof to help eradicate world hunger, the first issue of Irish America was being prepped to roll off the presses. It's been a wild 15 years for … [Read more...] about Music: Rockin’ 15
Film Forum: The Patriot
Round two of Mel Gibson's war with the British. ℘℘℘ Jack L. Warner once said he hated the kind of movie in which the hero "writes with a feather." Hollywood's aversion to the quaint details of a distant historical period helps account for the scarcity of films dealing with the American Revolutionary War. But reluctance to alienate Great Britain probably had more to do with … [Read more...] about Film Forum: The Patriot