13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Way We Were, The Way We Are, September 1, 2001
This review is from: The St. Louis Irish: An Unmatched Celtic Community (Paperback)
"The St. Louis Irish: An Unmatched Celtic Community" is a delightful book which can be appreciated on several levels.
On a personal level, any member of this Celtic Community, which includes Fr. Faherty and myself, can enjoy reading the extensive list of names of people who have enriched our Community over the centuries. In the early chapters we read names familiar to us from a variety of sources. Some names we know from the other historical books we have read or from the mosaics of the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica which we have admired. Other names remind us of streets or businesses which have been part of our community for as long as we can remember. Some names are those of contemporary friends or acquaintances who may be descendants of these notable citizens. In the later chapters we read of people known to us personally.
This book also teaches us the history of St. Louis, which has been shaped, in large degree, by its large Celtic community. St. Louis' unique history as a Catholic center prepared it to be a fertile ground for Irish settlement. Unlike eastern cities whose original aristocracy was Anglo-American and Protestant, the original St. Louis aristocracy was French-Canadian and Catholic. This originally French city welcomed the Irish and smoothly integrated them into all walks of St. Louis life. From the early days of Irish immigration, the Irish have prospered and contributed to the life of the St. Louis community. I was surprised to learn that many of these early immigrants who were proud members of the St. Louis Celtic community were Protestants, as was the case among the Irish of Ireland.
The study of the St. Louis Irish gives us an insight into the histories of America, the Irish and the Irish Americans. Here we see that many of the pre-famine Irish immigrants brought educations and mercantile traditions which were maintained in their new homes. Many Irish, barred, like European Jews of the day, from land ownership and the professions, had turned to mercantile trades for the employment of their talents.
As the world approached the middle of the nineteenth century two related events impacted on our story. The failure of the Irish potato crop in the 1840s sent millions of poor, uneducated Catholics teeming onto American shores. For the first time, millions of Catholic, non-Anglo-Saxons threatened the WASP vision of an American culture exclusively its own. In response to this influx, a nativist movement arose which sought to exclude immigrants and Catholics from American society. This movement found its political expression in the "Know Nothing" party in the years before the Civil War.
The "Know Nothing" movement had a significant affect on the St. Louis Irish. With the mass immigration of the Famine Era, the Irish Community became more working class than mercantile, more Catholic than ecumenical, more self contained rather than an integrated into the local community. The altered national mood made the Celtic community one with which Protestants preferred not to be identified. After this time the Protestant Irish tended to identify with and meld into the predominant Anglo-American identity, leaving the Irish community largely Catholic. From this time on, to be Irish, largely meant to be Catholic.
In the later sections of the book, much of the history of the St. Louis Irish is reflected in the history of the Church in St. Louis. Throughout this period, Fr. Faherty does an excellent job of highlighting many Irish people who played prominent roles in the life of the community.
After World War II, the Irish identity became more a memory than an ever present part of our lives. Irish remained active and prominent in many organizations, but the organizations were no longer exclusively or predominantly Irish in their identity and membership. We now shared our parishes with Catholics of other ethnic backgrounds, rather than worshipping in national parishes as had earlier generations. To a large degree, the Irish have merged into the American melting pot. In order to recover that which we have lost, we now study our past to learn what it is to be Irish. Many St. Louis Irish of today know more about Irish history, culture and art than our ancestors to whom Irish was a way of life, rather than an object of study. Reflecting, perhaps, the divisions in Ireland, St. Louis has become a two parade city. St. Louis Irish now have to opportunity to choose between two rival St. Patrick's Day Parades.
It is said that being Irish is a terrible thing-until you consider all the alternatives. The behavior of the Irish is sometimes bewildering, even to ourselves. This book helps us understand better the way we were and how we became the way we are.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful for Genealogy, May 21, 2009
St. Louis was "the chief Irish settlement in the United States," said historian David March. This book discusses the reasons for that, one of which was that the Irish did not like the British, who prevailed east of the Mississippi River.
Here is a litany of Irish surnames, some of them familiar from St. Louis landmarks and street names. Irish people who were influential in religion, education, literature, business, industry, politics, labor unions, sports, etc., plus women of distinction. The stories of Bryan Mullanphy on page 38 are heartwarming. A true St. Louis hero, along with fireman Phelim O'Toole. The names change as the city changes: immigration and growth, demographic and ethnic changes, new parishes and institutions. Two chapters cover St. Louis Irish responses to the Civil War. Others tell of Irish participation in the World's Fair, the world wars, and the World Series.
This book may be useful in genealogy research. The map on page 57 shows which Catholic parishes were Irish, which German, and which French--valuable clues in tracking down church records.
A very Catholic book. One could argue that it has a pro-clerical bias, but that's the way it was with the Irish. Readable, though poorly edited. It covers all the obvious angles, from the eighteenth century to Mark McGwire's home run chase with Sammy Sosa. Illustrated with many historic photographs.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm Jealous, August 17, 2011
I'm jealous because the St Louis Catholics (in particular the Irish Catholics) have such an able historian in William Barnaby Faherty S.J. while the story of the Philadelphian Irish is told by, and we are defined by, the apostate Dennis Clark. Well, instead of lamenting the poor treatment of the Philadelphia Irish by Clark, let's sing the praises of Father Faherty's treatment of the St Louis Irish. Father starts the book with an explanation of the foundation of St Louis as a French community, because of this, St Louis was naturally more tolerant of Catholics than the Eastern seaboard states. Early Irish immigration to "America" was really to French St Louis; by 1820 15% of St Louis was Irish! This should be of interest to anyone who has an interest in geneology, most researchers focus on New York, Philadelphia etal as the traditional ports of entry, that St Louis had such a high concentration of Irish so long before An Gorta Mor indicates to me that other pathways of immigration have been overlooked.
Several chapters are then dedicated to how the Irish helped establish schools and hospitals, not just for themselves but for others. The best part of this section is Fathers bringing forward to the light the good works so many wealthy people did for the poor and society. Much space is also given to crediting the priest and nuns who did so much to make St Louis the great city it is. The best aspect of the book is it's scope, it's first and foremost a peoples history (in both sense of the term), also, anyone interested in labor history will enjoy the section of the book focusing on that topic, Father recalls some forgotten heros of that movement like Fannie Mooney Sellins. God Bless that woman! Folk hero's like Phelim O'Toole come alive in this book. There's more, much more, though only 270 pages Father seems to fill this book beyond such narrow confines. Must be a Jesuit trick!
Great book.
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