He deserves a better judgmentAs Bobby Kennedy lay dying on a hotel kitchen floor, we’re told his last words were of concern for those around him who had also been shot. “Is everybody okay?” Kennedy asked. These noble, altruistic last conscious thoughts chime with how many people see him – a champion of the poor, “a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw … [Read more...] about Bobby Kennedy Has Been Turned into an Impossibly Perfect Hero
Books
Black and Green Today
More than 20 years ago I wrote a book about the links between the U.S. civil rights movement and the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. Black and Green (published in 1998) did okay, reviewers were kind, and some schools and universities in the U.S. and Europe forced their students to read it. What’s surprised me is that two decades on it’s enjoying a mini-revival. Its … [Read more...] about Black and Green Today
Frank & Al
A new book by Terry Golway on the developing Democratic party through the lens of F.D.R. and Al Smith Frank and Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance and Epic Feud that Created the Modern Democratic Party by Terry Golway allows readers to see the massive change to the Democratic party that both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Al Smith ushered in during the mid- 20th … [Read more...] about Frank & Al
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
October 26, 2017
The setting, Transylvania. The writing style, High Victorian. The story’s appeal, universal. But the author of one of fiction's most famous and imitated works is Irish. Carstens Smith brings us the story of Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula. Bram Stoker, whose name is less well known than that of his creation, Dracula, was born in Dublin on November 8, 1847. He was called … [Read more...] about Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Book Reviews
A Sampling of the Latest Irish Books. RECOMMENDED Acclaimed historian Edward T. O'Donnell goes from the Ice Age to Michael Phelan ("The Father of American Billiards") in his breezy history 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History. O'Donnell, professor of American History at Holy Cross College, covers topics ranging from Ireland Before 1850, Religion, … [Read more...] about Book Reviews