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Tom Deignan

An Interview with T. J English

Tom Deignan
IA Newsletter October 22, 2022

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Having spent decades writing about crooks and killers, what seedy corner of America’s immigrant underworld could best-selling author TJ English explore next? Jazz, of course! OK, this might seem like a strange fit. In books like The Westies and Where the Bodies are Buried, English took a close look at ruthless Irish American gangsters from Hell’s Kitchen to South Boston. Then … [Read more...] about An Interview with T. J English

The Choir That Inspires

By Tom Deignan

Fall 2022

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The Northwell Health Nurse Choir skyrocketed to fame last year on America's Got Talent. Tom Deignan Finds the Irish Connection. It is the late 1970s, and an Irish American from Queens is working at a pub that regularly features the musical stylings of Tommy Mulvihill and his band.   And the crowd gets so lively at times that they join in on the singing – as does the … [Read more...] about The Choir That Inspires

“It Really Is a Crisis”

By Tom Deignan

Fall 2022

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Irish Americans Confront U.S. Nursing Shortage Dr. Linda Flynn knows all too well that the COVID pandemic placed a tremendous strain on nursing staffs across the U.S. “There was so much burnout,” explains Flynn, a Washington D.C.-area native, who now serves as dean of the School of Nursing at Rutgers University. “There’s only so much trauma, and death and dying (nurses) can … [Read more...] about “It Really Is a Crisis”

“Saints” in Scrubs

By Tom Deignan

Fall 2022

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Irish nurses, in fiction and in real life, shaped nursing and healthcare in the U.S.There is a moment late in J. Courtney Sullivan’s excellent 2017 novel Saints for all Occasions when “hundreds of people showed up” to a Boston Irish American wake. Among the mourners are a trio of sisters, “Peggy, Patrica and Jane, all of them nurses…two of them wore scrubs beneath their winter … [Read more...] about “Saints” in Scrubs

Hibernia: Irish Eye on Hollywood

Irish America Staff

Fall 2022

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Banshees: A Friends at War MovieIt is only a slight exaggeration to say that Ireland’s entire film industry seems to be involved in two big movies hitting screens in the next few months. First, there is the late October release of The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, … [Read more...] about Hibernia: Irish Eye on Hollywood