The Boston Irish: A Political History [Hardcover]

Thomas H. O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 1995

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.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first Irish to arrive in Boston, in the early 18th century, were Protestants from Ulster and were thought of by the local gentry as "members of a barbaric, inferior, and unmanageable race." By the time of the potato famine of the 1840s, these Protestant Irish had assimilated into the population and thought much the same about the new Irish, overwhelmingly Catholic, who emigrated to avoid starvation. In 1847 alone, Boston was inundated with 37,000 immigrants and the locals were appalled by the newcomers' unsanitary practices, indolence and propensity for drink. Like California's recent Proposition 187, the prejudice shibboleth of that time read, "No Irish Need Apply," and in 1854, the Know-Nothing Party of Massachusetts promised to eliminate "Rome, Rum, and Robbery." But with the urging of Boston Bishop Fitzpatrick, Irish Catholics learned to fight bigotry with the ballot. We are introduced to the featured players: Hugh O'Brien, the first Irish-born mayor of Boston; John F. Fitzgerald and Patrick J. Kennedy, ward bosses and the grandfathers of JFK; James Michael Curley, mayor, congressman, governor and prominent rogue; and John F. Kennedy, who completed the cycle of Irish political hegemony when he defeated Brahmin Henry Cabot Lodge for senator in 1952. Viewing the Irish from the coffin ships of the famine years to the lace-curtain attitudes of today, O'Connor (South Boston, My Home Town) has written a scholarly yet colorful account of a breed he convinces us is vanishing. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

O'Connor (history, Boston Coll.) adds to his series on the history of Boston with this account of the city's Irish political machine. He lovingly documents its growth from the time of scalawag James Michael Curley to that of more modern leaders like Raymond Flynn. His description of the Boston Brahmins, Protestant gentry in control of the banks and major businesses and locked in generational struggles with the Catholic Irish, makes for classic American drama. O'Connor is more tentative with Boston's infamous busing crises, and he finishes appropriately with a question mark on the future of the Irish in Boston politics. The only criticism is one of omission. O'Connor ignores Billy Bulger, the long-standing senate president, as though only mayors count. Alongside the works of the late Tip O'Neill, this will provide a thorough history of Boston politics. The promised index will be indispensable. Strongly recommended for academic collections and especially for Bay State public libraries.?Robert C. Moore, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. Information Svcs., N. Billerica, Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern; 4th Ed. edition (May 4, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555532209
• ISBN-13: 978-1555532208
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,823,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating and captivating account of the Boston Irish, May 19, 1998

By 

Andrew Abbott ([e-mail]) (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boston Irish: A Political History (Hardcover)

From their persecution and famine in their homeland, to their struggles at survival in America, this book traces the history of Boston's largest and most vocal inhabitants. O'Connor does a remarkable job in tracing the numerous stuggles the Boston Irish faced, and how it shaped their attitudes today. The book is loaded with anecdotes and tales from of Boston more famous characters: from James Michael Curley to Bill Flynn. The book, by detailing the Irish political machines at the turn of the century, provides us with the mindset that has controlled Boston politics for over a century. Entertaining throughout, it is scary how much about Boston and its politics one can learn.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, June 3, 2002

By 

Thomas P. Connolly (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boston Irish: A Political History (Paperback)

I grew up in Boston in the 40's and 50's, Roxbury actually. I left in 1959 when I was 19. I view it as having escaped. The neighborhood was virtually all Irish Catholic.

My parents, while not active in party politics were very politically conscious. Their political philosophy was quite simple. Roosevelt's Democrats walked on water; the Republicans were for the rich and against the poor (we, of course, were poor). To this day, over 43 years after leaving their house, I have a bit of trouble pulling the lever for a Republican candidate.

As I grew older I realized that their philosophy, which was generally shared by all in the neighborhood, created problems such as complacency and corruption. In our neighborhood the Boston police from Station # 9 made no effort to conceal what they were doing while they picked up their payoffs from the many bookie joints along Dudley Street. Whenever the state investigated a corrupt official or the very corrupt Boston Police Dept. my mother would say that it was just the Republicans taking their revenge on good Irish Catholics. Somehow she always knew that these good Irish Catholics went to mass every morning. The corruption and incompetence in front of her made no difference in her thinking.

Professor O'Connor's book helped me understand how my parents came to develop these political attitudes. Much of what he talked about still existed in the Boston Irish neighborhoods while I was growing up. I suspect to some extent it still does. I just finished reading "All Souls: A Family Story From Southie" by Michael Patrick McDonald. This is a very sad story which shows just how much the Irish Catholic's in South Boston have allowed their communities to degrade and allowed themselves to be snowed by their own Irish Catholic politicians.

If you have any interest in Boston political history or Irish American history you will love this book. I'm sure that the history of the Irish in Boston is similar to the Irish in most major US cities.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but dense, August 3, 2007

By 

Elisabeth Depristo (Newton, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Boston Irish: A Political History (Paperback)

This book reads more like a textbook than anything else. The pages are dense with factual, historical information. It is interesting but, if you are looking for an easy read describing the Irish immigrant journey into and through Boston history, this is not the book for you.