What we know from literature about what Irish Famine immigrants encountered upon their arrival in North America.If you ever spend the day at the Silver Lake golf course on the north shore of Staten Island, New York, pay attention. It’s not that the greens are particularly speedy or that the course is unusually challenging. What you should keep your eye out for, instead, is a … [Read more...] about Arriving in the New World
Tom Deignan
Malachy McCourt, “Death Need Not Be Fatal”
Author Mark Twain once famously quipped about the great exaggerations fueling rumors of his death. But the legendary Malachi McCourt topped even Twain, by noting that - exaggerated or not - death “need not be fatal.” That was the title of one of McCourt's many books. And, in some ways, it was the guiding principle of his extraordinary life - acting on stage and screen, telling … [Read more...] about Malachy McCourt, “Death Need Not Be Fatal”
A Historic Irish Win at the Oscars
By Tom Deignan
IA Newsletter
March 16, 2024
IA Newsletter
March 16, 2024
“I'm a very, very proud Irish man standing here tonight."The Irish didn’t have a lot of nominations at this year’s Academy Awards - but they walked away with one of their biggest wins ever. And this time next year, Cillian Murphy may well be up for another Best Actor statue, for an upcoming film based on an Irish novel, by an Irish writer, about some of the darkest shadows in … [Read more...] about A Historic Irish Win at the Oscars
“I Never Did Like Politics”
By Tom Deignan
IA Newsletter
March 16, 2024
IA Newsletter
March 16, 2024
"I Never Did Like Politics": How Fiorello La Guardia Became America's Mayor, and Why He Still MattersTerry Golway literally wrote the book on Tammany Hall, the Irish-dominated political machine that changed American politics - for better and worse. His 2014 study Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of American Politics is the acknowledged authoritative history of the … [Read more...] about “I Never Did Like Politics”
American Mother
By Tom Deignan
IA Newsletter
March 9, 2024
IA Newsletter
March 9, 2024
The crowd on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at Manhattan's Swift Hibernian Lounge, off The Bowery, was energetic. In the back room, Dublin-born author Colum McCann smiled and shook many hands, while also introducing Diane Foley to many of those who’d come out to launch the co-authors’ powerful new book American Mother. In a new interview with Irish America magazine, McCann confronts … [Read more...] about American Mother