Customer Reviews

Irish in America [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This mini-series was compiled with pure-genious. The content will make ANYONE understand the perils and hardships the Irish had to face in order to prosper in America. I also recommend the outstanding soundtrack (same title) with it's own list of favorable reviews.

This two-part video is a very satisfying and informative presentation about the immigration of the Irish to America.

Like the Irish themselves, this video is sprinkled with humor ... but the hardships they faced and their determination to prevail ... are brought out to the viewers as well. The narration is excellent. And seven or eight experts on Irish history are used throughout the presentation, and they do a fine job of bringing home the plight and the indomitable spirit of these plucky immigrants to America.

For me personally this video was a good source of heritage-type information. I found things I could hold onto and cherish ... things about my ancestry and other clues to what I am about ... and I came away with a greater appreciation for the Irish who lived here in America before me.

This video, while informative, lacked the "feeling" of the series on PBS. Specifically, it lacked the anecdotal information. For example, the PBS series revealed that the Irishman's value was more as ballast than as a passenger on the trip to America since the trade surplus from cotton, tobacco, etc. meant nearly empty ships returning to America from England. That type of insight into everyday life was lacking, in my opinion, in this video.

VOLUME 1: THE GREAT HUNGER
Part one of this acclaimed PBS series explores the earliest roots of the Irish people in the New World. Centering on the crucial event of the Potato Famine, this tape examines the causes of what would become one of the greatest mass migrations in world history. The conditions faced by early arrivals in the United States are examined, including the prejudice that made the end of the remarkable journey so bittersweet for thousands of families in search of a new life. Serious in tone and well documented, this tape is appropriate for use in the college classroom. Enhanced by tender personal remembrances, rare archival images and the rousing music of some of today's most popular singers, this powerful and inspiring epic touches the life of every American!

VOLUME 2: ALL ACROSS AMERICA
At the start, the Irish who survived the Famine found poverty and disease in America, religious bigotry, and a political movement that meant to run them out of the country. But the Irish stuck together; they built their own churches and their own communities. And by the last quarter of the 19th century, as the Irish spread out across the country, Irish-American heroes had begun to emerge. Prospector John Mackay discovered the Big Bonanza, a strike of silver and gold, that made him one of the richest men in the world, overnight. Marcus Daly opened his fabulously successful Anaconda Copper Mine to Irish immigrant workers. And John L. Sullivan, a street kid from Boston with a talent for bare knuckle fighting and two-fisted drinking, made himself a legend when he faced challenger Jack Kilrain in an amazing 75-round bout. Enhanced by tender personal remembrances, rare archival images and the rousing music of some of today's most popular singers, this powerful and inspiring epic touches the life of every American!

VOLUME 3: UP FROM CITY STREETS
This is the story of a golden age for the Irish in America, when Irish immigrants rose to run its great cities -- to rule them -- from the sewers to the skyline. They left their mark everywhere: in theater, sports, music, crime, labor, Wall Street, and Hollywood. One Irish boy, Al Smith, started his career heaving barrels of fish in Manhattan's Lower East Side and ended it in a bid for the American Presidency. Was America ready for a Catholic kid from the city streets to make a home for himself in the White House? Enhanced by tender personal remembrances, rare archival images and the rousing music of some of today's most popular singers, this powerful and inspiring epic touches the life of every American!

VOLUME 4: SUCCESS
This volume chronicles the history of two very different Irish-American families who both reached international celebrity in the 1930s. The Kennedy's were always considered America's royalty especially when patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., a self-made millionaire, was appointed Ambassador to England. By the time John F. Kennedy became the first Irish-Catholic President of the United States, the days of the potato famine and the stigma of being Irish were long gone. But the senior Kennedy insisted that he and his family be remembered not as Americans of Irish descent, but as American. On the other hand, Eugene O'Neill, one of the world's greatest playwrights, was fiercely Irish and kept his family roots exposed in most of his classic plays. If the Kennedy's basked in the glow of their assimilation as Americans, O'Neill eschewed it, preferring to relive his family's bitter struggle to remain Irish in America. In both cases, they succeeded.

A very good documentary -- particularly concerning the plight of the Irish immigrants who came to America following the famine of the mid-1800's. The first two tapes are excellent and offer a wonderful perspective. If you have any Irish heritage or are curious about the American immigrant experience, it's a great documentary.
I'm deducting 1 star since episode #3 is nearly 100% devoted to the life of Al Smith (New York Governor and US Presidential Candidate) and episode #4 is split between the lives of members of the Kennedy family and Eugene O'Neal. Although it's understandable to focus on such prominant figures, It doesn't seem reasonable to me to expect 2-3 individuals to encapsulate the experiences of such a large and influential immigrant group.

In this documentary, there is a very sorrowful letter from a mother in Ireland to her son, who has emigrated to North America to escape the potato famine, detailing the conditions under which she and her remaining children are (barely)living that ends "For God's sake Jimmy, bring us out." I don't know how many times I have watched this, and I still get tears in my eyes over the utter desperation in this letter. I am a child of the children of these immigrants, and this very excellent and too-brief history led me to do much more research on my ancestral home. It is beautifully photographed, and Aiden Quinn's soft, sad voice provided the perfect narration. This is lovely work.

Enjoyed the 4 tape set of the Irish in America - The Long Journey Home. I have been doing some Irish family research and found the tapes very interesting and helpful. Learned a lot of their history and was sad to learn of all the hardships faced manly by the poor. So sad that so many of them were forced to leave their beautiful homeland.

This two volume set; each video fifty minutes long, is like a cliff note version of the Irish coming to America. Talks about English rule over Ireland and the reason they first came to the colonies and the strugles to find themselves in the United States. I just though it could of been more informative and the a little bit longer.

This would be a really great series if the narration weren't so soft as to challenge the listener to understand it. Quinn has a great voice but the director should be shot. I cannot imagine what the motivation was for having such an obvious shortcoming other than to say that it sounds really cool and artsy and...well...maybe that was the motivation. It is annoying as hell. And I am a 44 year old man with perfect hearing and I regularly watch documentaries of all types.

The story is fascinating and the video is great but the narration kills it.

There are several statements in this program that are questionable, if not wrong. A couple of examples include the statement that the Irish were 'the hardest working people in America.' And the Irish migration was the greatest migration of all time. The forced migration of Africans to the Americas dwarfs the number of Irish. In addition the forced labor, at their masters' whips, would challenge who were the hardest working people in America.

The Irish had an amazing influence on America, the incorrect facts in this program are not needed to prove that fact.