Making Sense of the Molly Maguires [Paperback]

Kevin Kenny (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195116313 | ISBN-13: 978-0195116311 | Publication Date: February 12, 1998

Twenty Irish immigrants, suspected of belonging to a secret terrorist organization called the Molly Maguires, were executed in Pennsylvania in the 1870s for the murder of sixteen men. Ever since, there has been enormous disagreement over who the Molly Maguires were, what they did, and why they did it, as virtually everything we now know about the Molly Maguires is based on the hostile descriptions of their contemporaries.

Arguing that such sources are inadequate to serve as the basis for a factual narrative, author Kevin Kenny examines the ideology behind contemporary evidence to explain how and why a particular meaning came to be associated with the Molly Maguires in Ireland and Pennsylvania. At the same time, this work examines new archival evidence from Ireland that establishes that the American Molly Maguires were a rare transatlantic strand of the violent protest endemic in the Irish countryside.

Combining social and cultural history, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires offers a new explanation of who the Molly Maguires were, as well as why people wrote and believed such curious things about them. In the process, it vividly retells one of the classic stories of American labor and immigration.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This terrific book adds much to our understanding of the Molly Maguires and provides details about the social and ethnic landscapes of eastern Pennsylvania. It also sheds new light on how many Irish Americans understood Catholicism."--American Historical Review

"This is a rich and subtly crafted interpretation of the Molly Maguires and their world, and the reader benefits from the prodigious research Kenny carried out....Kenny's definitive study presents a nuanced vision of the Molly Maguires' lives and the world they lived in; and his book sheds a remarkable light more generally on labour struggles in the mid-19th century."--Labor History

"Kevin Kenny's Making Sense of the Molly Maguires is easily the best book ever written about the subject. It is meticulously researched, carefully argued, and well written, and it brings all of the events to life.... His book is a story of the hardships of the mines, of the power of the owners and their paid police forces, and most especially of the power of the media to portray the events in such a way as to inflame persons around the nation. And this book is about the way we write history.... The controversy over the Molly Maguires will not end with Kenny's book. Some will see them as brutal terrorists and others as martyred heroes of the labor movement. But no one will ever again be able to think or write seriously about the 1870s violence in the anthracite coal region [of eastern Pennsylvania] without reading this stunning volume."--Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University, in a review for the History Book Club, January 1998

"Until now the Molly Maguires have dwelled in the half-light of myth and propaganda. No longer. In Making Sense of the Molly Maguires, Kevin Kenny dispels the shadows. Kenny gives us the flesh-and-blood men, their passions and grievances, the crimes they committed and the crimes committed against them. This is a first-class work of scholarship that unfolds with the power of a detective novel. Along with making sense of the Molly Maguires, Kenny has produced an outstanding piece of historical enlightenment. He made me think, and he made me weep. I am in awe of his achievement."--Peter Quinn, author of Banished Children of Eve

"After thorough research in both Irish and American sources, Kevin Kenny has produced by far the best and the most sensitive treatment of the Molly Maguires, the Irish-born anthracite miners who battled corporate capitalism and its legal and clerical allies in Gilded-Age Pennsylvania. Kenny's book does far more than make sense of this important and tragic episode, for his is a very major contribution to our general understanding of working-class, immigration, and Irish-American history."--Kerby Miller, University of Missouri-Columbia

"Making Sense of the Molly Maguires is destined to become a definitive work on the subject and one that this reviewer recommends highly."--Thomas Larkin, An Scathan

About the Author

Kevin Kenny is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195116313
• ISBN-13: 978-0195116311
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, very well-researched book, February 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Sense of the Molly Maguires (Paperback)

A very well-researched and detailed account of the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania. Cuts through the myths and concentrates on the facts. Gives a very good depiction of life in the coal region at the time (much of the language, culture, etc. is still present in the region today). Also good background information on the Mollies origins in Ireland. A very scholarly work.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full consideration of a complex historical event, December 20, 2002

By 

Christopher R Burk - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Sense of the Molly Maguires (Paperback)

Kenny digs into the broader social and historical forces that operated in the Irish coal miners and the community in which they found themselves. The events under review are themselves shocking. Like the 9/11 attacks, they seem almost incomprehensible because of their violence and the drama surrounding the events. The Molly Maguries were more than simple killers -- the women's clothing, for example, is a clue that something beyond a simple murder. Kenny gives his explanation of WHY events unfolded as they did.
Kenny has a scholarly point to make and academic readers will be rewarded with Kenny's solid analysis. This is a serious work on a serious subject. It is well worth a bit of intellectual effort. It also makes a fine addition to the reading list of an upper level undergraduate or graduate history course. However, the general reader with an interest in Irish-American history, labor history, and/or European immigrant history will also find this book interesting and informative.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SHOCKING DETAIL, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Sense of the Molly Maguires (Hardcover)

After reading Mr. Kenny's account of the Mollys, I have a much better understanding of what really transpired in the coal fields of Eastern Pennsylvania over 100 years ago. Going beyond the typical view of the Mollys as a band of drunken criminals of Irish origin, Kenny tells of the political and corporate corruption that existed in the 1850s to 1880s. While not displaying total sympathy for the Mollys - since many did fit the stereotypical image, Kenny's accounts will change one's perspective of this group. Well worth reading.