When I was young, a visit by two Frenchmen caused great excitement in our house. They were distant cousins – descendants of Oliver Harty who was born in Knockainey, Knocklong, County Limerick in 1746 and left for France as a lad of sixteen. Like many young Irishmen who had lucrative careers in continental armies since the 16th century, Oliver left for France in 1762 to serve … [Read more...] about The First Word: Celebrating the Far-Flung Irish
Patricia Harty
The First Word: The Comfort of Tradition & Ritual
“The robins came – that’s a sign of luck,” my cousin whispers in my ear as the men start to shovel the clay. Sure enough, I look up and see a pair of robins swoop down over the heads of those gathered and then fly off together. It’s a bright sunny day, but the temperature is below freezing and I worry that the clay will be frozen solid. Perhaps it is. But the men – whom I … [Read more...] about The First Word: The Comfort of Tradition & Ritual
The Triumph & the Tragedy
Mary Pat Kelly’s new novel Galway Bay captures the essence of the Great Starvation and the 19th-century Irish-American experience. Ireland has a terrible history. As a kid in school reading about that history I was always afraid to turn the page; what seemed like a hopeful turn of events always was undone by a traitor or some clever English piece of skulduggery – the Indians … [Read more...] about The Triumph & the Tragedy
The Irish Oil Man: Dave O’Reilly
The highest- ranked Irish-born CEO in the U.S., and the longest- reigning CEO of an oil company, Chevron’s DAVE O’REILLY talks to Patricia Harty. Dave O’Reilly loves oil. It is why he became a chemical engineer. He doesn’t know how exactly this love came about – he wasn’t influenced by any American westerns featuring Texas wild-catters that populated the fledgling Irish … [Read more...] about The Irish Oil Man: Dave O’Reilly
The First Word: A Tide of Hope
I’m flying from New York to San Francisco in a window seat looking out over the great expanse that is America. It’s my favorite route to fly. As always I’m struck by the majesty of the countryside – the mountains and lakes and rivers and the tiny dots of houses that hunker down into the landscape like covered wagons. Invariably, the words to “God Bless America” … [Read more...] about The First Word: A Tide of Hope