The Irish-American Experience in New Jersey and Metropolitan New York: Cultural Identity, Hybridity, and Commemoration

This book is a collection of nine essays exploring the Irish-American experience in the New Jersey and New York metropolitan area, both historically and today. The essays place the local Irish-American experience in the wider context of immigration studies, assimilation, and historical theory. Using case studies, interviews, scholarly research in primary historical documents and theory, and first-hand experience, the authors delve into what it has meant, and means, to be Irish American in the New Jersey and New York area, projecting what this ethnic identity will signify in years to come. Representing a variety of scholarly and professional disciplines, from archivists; to historians; to lawyers; to scholars of literature and theology; the authors share their own unique perspectives on the significance of the contributions of Irish-Americans to American life in various arenas. Each chapter is interdisciplinary, revealing the interconnections among cultural history, biography, contemporary events, and literary appreciation. It is through these intersections of disciplines, of past and present, of individual and community, that we can best analyze and appreciate the ways that Irish-Americans have shaped life in the New Jersey/New York area over the past two centuries.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Maura Grace Harrington and Marta M. Deyrup Introduction: Dermot Quinn Part I: Irish Americans in the Newark Area Chapter 1: The Irish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark—Augustine J. Curley, O.S.B. Chapter 2: "Keeping the Tradition Alive"—William B. Rogers and Nicole Anderson Chapter 3: Perspectives on the Easter Rising—Maura Grace Harrington Part II: Arriving and Thriving Chapter 4: Irish Immigration to the United States in the 20th Century—Linda Dowling Almeida Chapter 5: American Irish in Service to Community & Country: A Vocational & New Jersey Perspective—Alan Delozier Chapter 6: An Irish-American Politician: Governor Richard Hughes—John B. Wefing Chapter 7: The Writing Irish—Ray O’Hanlon Part III: The Greater New York/New Jersey Region Chapter 8: Music in the Mountains: The Irish Catskills and Traditional Music—Brendan Dolan Chapter 9: “With Pick and Shovel”: Commemorating the Workers Who Died Building the Delaware and Raritan Canal, 1830-1834—Paul Ferris

About the Author :
Maura Grace Harrington is an instructor in the English Department at Seton Hall University. Her articles have appeared in many journals including Yeats Eliot Review, Edgar Allan Poe Review, South Carolina Review, and Early Modern Literary Studies. Marta M. Deyrup is professor/librarian I at Seton Hall University and served for six years as the university’s codirector of women and gender studies. She is the editor of Digital Scholarship and the East-Central European Collections of the New York Public Library Research Libraries and the author of The Vita Constantini as Literary and Linguistic Construct for the Early Slavs.

Review :
This collection offers new insight into the experience of the Irish in New Jersey. The essays remind us of the Irish contribution to the state's history, culture, and politics. You'll learn something new on every page. Maura Harrington and Marta Deyrup’s The Irish-American Experience in New Jersey and Metropolitan New York: Cultural Identity, Hybridity, and Commemoration evinces a profound understanding of the Irish-American milieu and the keen scholarship of the editors and contributors. It is very clear that Harrington and Deyrup are in love with the subject they have chosen to portray with depth, subtlety, and variety. The book will advance our appreciation for these people, their time, and their place in our history. The editors have compiled a fascinating collection of essays which analyze and interpret the Irish-American experience. The questions asked are the appropriate ones: What does it mean to be an Irish American? Is there an Irish-American identity?. . . .[The book] . . . provides a worthwhile and valuable contribution to Irish-American history.