THE IRISH AMERICANS

A leading authority on American Catholicism distills a complete history of the ethnic group that constitutes a major portion of the religion’s adherents.

Dolan (In Search of an American Catholicism, 2002, etc.) offers a lucid blend of political, religious, labor and national history. He keeps a firm grip on a wide array of material, shifting neatly between Ireland and America, as well as between large narratives of change and particular stories of representative individuals. In a major contribution, Dolan gives fresh emphasis to the forgotten period before the Great Famine of the mid-1840s. He begins his account with the migration of 250,000 Irish to America before the Revolution, a time when both Catholics and Protestants regarded themselves as Irish. He then shows sectarianism and bigotry taking hold after 1790 as Irish immigrants were exclusively identified as Catholics, commonly viewed as inferior and un-American. These conditions prevailed when the Great Famine intensified Irish migration to urban America in the mid-19th century. Nevertheless, the Irish made themselves a success by establishing their loyalty to the United States, building potent political machines, leading labor movements and developing a powerful Catholic Church marked by a new style of devotional worship. In 1928 the failed presidential campaign of Al Smith, the Democratic Party nominee, demonstrated how far Irish Catholics had come, but also how far they still had to go. In contrast, Kennedy’s victory in 1960 was an unequivocal moment of triumph for Irish-Americans. By the end of the 20th century it was positively chic to be Irish, asserts Dolan. His balanced, inclusive book is clear and well organized; only his flat prose undermines an otherwise strong work.

Accomplished and encompassing, though not elegantly written.