Liam Cunningham is an Irish actor to look out for as fall approaches. He has built up an impressive resume of Irish and British movies, including Ken Loach’s provocative Irish Civil War Epic The Wind that Shakes the Barley as well as Breakfast on Pluto, in which Cunningham co-starred with fellow Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Cunningham’s most recent appearance was in the summer … [Read more...] about Irish Eye On Hollywood
Tom Deignan
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
Review of Books
Recommended The Likeness by Tana French Tana French made a surprise splash with critics and readers when her debut novel In the Woods was released last year. Aside from spending weeks on numerous best-seller lists, In the Woods also won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. In the Woods explored the murder of a girl in Dublin, which is where French grew up. (She also spent … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Irish Eye on Hollywood
Amidst the popcorn blockbusters of the summer, keep an eye out for veterans as well as up-and-coming Irish talent in Hollywood. First up, Pierce Brosnan stars alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, based on the musical, which itself was based on the songs of Swedish supergroup Abba. Mamma Mia!, scheduled for a July 18 release, is about a bride-to-be who is searching for her … [Read more...] about Irish Eye on Hollywood
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