The year was 1906. The setting was a stage in Savona, Italy, a northwestern port town south of Milan. The opera to be performed that particular evening was L’Amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni, with a fresh-faced 21-year-old named Giovanni Foli included among the cast members. Though he had only a supporting role, Foli earned quite a bit of attention for his performance. This … [Read more...] about The Original Irish Tenor: John McCormack
History Archives
The Battle Over Ulysses
The court case that changed the way Americans read. During a first-season episode of the excellent AMC TV series Mad Men, set in the New York advertising world of the 1960s, several secretaries are seen gathered around the office water cooler, whispering. Finally, one secretly passes along a well-thumbed copy of the erotic literary classic Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was … [Read more...] about The Battle Over Ulysses
The Legacy of the San Patricios
To the Mexicans they were heroes. To the Americans they were traitors. They were recent Irish immigrants fleeing poverty and famine in Ireland who, motivated by discrimination in their own ranks, a shared religion, and sympathy for the cause, fought on the side of Mexico in the U.S.-Mexican war of 1846-1848. The war between the United States and Mexico had two causes: … [Read more...] about The Legacy of the San Patricios
The Tragedy of the Hannah
In April 1849, a ship carrying Irish immigrants hit an iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. John Kernaghan writes on the incident, and of plans for a documentary as Quebec celebrates its 400th anniversary. The crew of the Nicaragua could scarcely credit their eyes when they closed on the iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some 120 Irish immigrants clung to a bit of frozen … [Read more...] about The Tragedy of the Hannah
Chicago and the Irish
Before he was president, Barack Obama was an ambitious young politician who learned a valuable lesson thanks to the Chicago Irish. The year was 1999. Obama, a state senator, announced he was going to challenge Congressman Bobby L. Rush, a legend in the working-class African-American wards of Chicago’s South Side. Decades earlier, the South Side was heavily Irish. It was the … [Read more...] about Chicago and the Irish