Irish America

Irish America

Irish History

Sláinte! Apples: The Fruit of the Gods

By Edythe Preet

Fall 2022

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Apples are abundant in Ireland in the fall, and they play a key role not only on the table but in festivities as well.Several years ago after a rigorous day of exploring County Laois, I pulled into a pub for a well-deserved pick-me-up pint. It was a wee bit early for the local drinking crowd and the long bar held only one customer, a young man who looked more like a fellow … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Apples: The Fruit of the Gods

How The Assassination of Michael Collins 100 Years Ago Changed Ireland For The Worse

By Niall O'Dowd
IA Newsletter, August 20, 2022

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There is no question that if Michael Collins had not died, Irish history would have been changed utterly. 100 years ago, on the 22nd of August, 1922, on a lonely road outside Cork City, the general commander of the Irish Army, Michael Collins, was shot dead in an ambush by IRA forces. He died in his home county, among his own people, with his dream of Irish unity … [Read more...] about How The Assassination of Michael Collins 100 Years Ago Changed Ireland For The Worse

All Has Changed

By Niall O'Dowd, IA Newsletter May 14, 2022

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For over 100 years, nationalists in Northern Ireland were considered by their unionist rulers to be the barbarians at the gate, to be prevented at all costs from ever gaining power. Unionism stood still for 100 years, continuously trumpeting support for the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland’s role in it. However, in a cataclysmic event, those same unionist leaders have found, … [Read more...] about All Has Changed

Maud Gonne and Famines in the 1890s

By Christine Kinealy

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Maud Gonne is frequently remembered as the unrequited love interest of the poet, W.B. Yeats, while her accomplishments as a nationalist, artist, actor, lecturer, polemist, writer, and social activist are often marginalized. In particular, Maud’s role in engaging with the perennial poverty and intermittent subsistence crises that dogged Ireland in the final decade of the 19th … [Read more...] about Maud Gonne and Famines in the 1890s

Window on the Past: A Savior of History

By Ray Cavanaugh, Contributor

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John Gilmary Shea preserved much of the existing knowledge of the beginnings of American Catholicism. Considering the Irish-American influence on U.S. Catholicism, it makes sense that someone of Irish descent – John Gilmary Shea – undertook to preserve much of the existing knowledge of the beginnings of American Catholicism. A prolific writer and dogged rescuer of rare … [Read more...] about Window on the Past: A Savior of History