Irish America

In This Issue 1994

A Musical, Magical, Mystical Tour of Ireland

By Nancy Lyon

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Mick Moloney, the folklorist, tenor banjo player, songster, wit, and raconteur offers a tour of Ireland to end all tours. On both sides of the Atlantic, Mick Moloney is known for his expressive traditional singing and tenor banjo playing dexterity, and he performs widely with Derry fiddler Eugene O'Donnell and set dancing champion Regan Wick, and with the touring ensemble The … [Read more...] about A Musical, Magical, Mystical Tour of Ireland

The Origin of “The Fighting Irish” Nickname

By Murray Sperber

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This exchange in a novel about college sports in the 1920s catches the prejudices that many Americans of the time held toward citizens of Irish-Catholic descent. However, unlike other immigrant groups who tried to submerge their ethnicity into the American melting pot and considered such terms as "Polack" and "Bohunk" insults, Irish Catholics gloried in many of their nicknames, … [Read more...] about The Origin of “The Fighting Irish” Nickname

Plunging Into Irish Studies

By Peter Monaghan

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Seamus Deane, a renowned literary scholar, fills a void at Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame, the home of the Fighting Irish, is the sentimental alma mater of many more actual and would-be Irish-Americans than ever have studied here. Yet until now, the most identifiably Catholic institution in the country--one where 14 of 16 presidents have been priests of Irish birth … [Read more...] about Plunging Into Irish Studies

New England’s Irish “Witch”

By Mike Tubridy

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Goody Ann Glover was hanged as a witch on November 16, 1688. Could it have been that it was because she was a Catholic whose first language was Irish. Had one not known the dour Puritans of this New England town better, one might have thought they were celebrating a holiday but, in fact, they had come out to witness the hanging of a witch. From jail to the gallows they … [Read more...] about New England’s Irish “Witch”