Timothy Egan (born November 8, 1954 in Seattle, Washington) has written eight books including the newly released Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero, about Thomas Francis Meagher. His book, The Worst Hard Time, about people who lived through the Great Depression’s Dust Bowl, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. A Pulitzer Prize- winning … [Read more...] about A Q+A with Timothy Egan, Author of The Immortal Irishman
Issues
Digging Up the Past
Robert Schmuhl takes us behind the scenes on a decade-long research project that culminated in his book Ireland’s Exiled Children: America and the Easter Rising. Facts are stubborn things,” John Adams famously remarked. Less known, though, is a clause he added to complete the thought – “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they … [Read more...] about Digging Up the Past
Gerry Adams: A Period of Change
In 1991, Irish America magazine published one of the first interviews with Gerry Adams. (As far as we can tell, Playboy was the only other American magazine to interview Adams before that.) In March, of that year, as the 75th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising loomed and violence continued on both sides in Northern Ireland, Patricia Harty traveled to West Belfast to interview the … [Read more...] about Gerry Adams: A Period of Change
Annie Moore’s Long Lost Irish Cousins
Megan Smolenyak writes about a decade-long search that finally turned up the Irish cousins of Annie Moore of Ellis Island fame. Thanks to improved access to a variety of resources, Irish genealogy is gradually becoming easier, but challenges remain, and one of the most daunting is finding living relatives. When Annie Moore, the Irish teenager who was the first immigrant to … [Read more...] about Annie Moore’s Long Lost Irish Cousins
Roots: The Proud Dempseys
Though never particularly numerous (as of the last count in 1996 by the Irish Times, the surname ranks as the underwhelming 164th most common surname in Ireland), the Dempsey clan was a powerful sept in its time. Originating in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe, anglicized today as Offaly and roughly covering the same territory as the contemporary county, the clan derives its name … [Read more...] about Roots: The Proud Dempseys