The Boston Irish: A Political History

Product Description

Settling in a city founded by the Puritans, the Boston Irish evolved into one of America’s most distinctive ethnic communities and eventually came to dominate local politics. This book offers a history of Boston’s Irish community.

Review

. . . the best recounting of the contemporary scene that I have seen . . . —
The New York Times Book Review, James Carroll

From the Back Cover

According to Thomas O’Connor, Irish political dominance in Boston grew out of generations of bitter and unyielding conflict between Yankees and Irish Catholic immigrants. Unlike the Irish in other American cities, the settlers in Boston encountered a homogenous, long-established Anglo-Saxon population openly hostile toward the Irish and all things Roman Catholic. O’Connor charts the course of the Irish’s growing political influence in Boston against the background of this clash between two different cultures. He argues that Irish politicians established a distinct philosophy of government that often shifted from traditional Democratic leadership to local neighborhood populism.