Becoming Irish American: The Making and Remaking of a People from Roanoke to JFK

by Timothy J. Meagher

The origins and evolution of Irish American identity, from colonial times through the twentieth century
 
As millions of Irish immigrants and their descendants created community in the United States over the centuries, they neither remained Irish nor simply became American. Instead, they created a culture and defined an identity that was unique to their circumstances, a new people that they would continually Irish Americans.
 
Historian Timothy J. Meagher traces the Irish American experience from the first Irishman to step ashore at Roanoke in 1585 to John F. Kennedy’s election as president in 1960. As he chronicles how Irish American culture evolved, Meagher looks at how various groups adapted and thrived—Protestants and Catholics, immigrants and American born, those located in different geographic corners of the country. He describes how Irish Americans made a living, where they worshiped, and when they married, and how Irish American politicians found particular success, from ward bosses on the streets of New York, Boston, and Chicago to the presidency.
 
In this sweeping history, Meagher reveals how the Irish American identity was forged, how it has transformed, and how it has held lasting influence on American culture.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, Irish Literature

344 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2023

Reviews

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not have Irish ancestry, but my husband does--two of his grandparents (they were deceased long before I met him, so I never knew them) left Ireland to make their home in the US. This was over a century ago, so neither of us knows much about their experience, However, he was able to get all of the information needed to allow him to get Irish citizenship by descent. As a result, we made the journey in the opposite direction, from the US to Ireland, where we have lived for almost a decade. I am curious to know more about the Irish-American experience, from both anthropological and personal perspectives. Although I never met my grandparents-in-law, the fact of their emigration has had a large impact on my life. And emigration in general plays a huge role in Irish culture today. For these reasons and more, I was intrigued to read this book--and I am so glad I did.

Meagher does a fine job of explaining what the experience of immigrants from Ireland would have been like in different places within the US and at different times, ending with the election of John F. Kennedy as president. He points out that, even as they had--and still do-- in Ireland, religious differences between Protestant and Catholic immigrants had a large impact on whether/how quickly they assimilated, how they interacted with each other, and how much they were accepted by the larger culture. Regional differences in Ireland led to tensions between Irish people once they arrived in the US. He examines the attitudes of Irish-Americans to racism and slavery. And in spite of 'Irish-American' being a category used for people to self-identify today, he argues that this was not always the case.

I learned a great deal from this book and it's a great read as well. I found it to be well-written, highly engaging, filled with food for thought, and highly informative. I read passages aloud to my husband and we talked about how we could see certain things played out in his own family. If you're interested at all in immigration, ethnic identities within the US, assimilation, and other related topics, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy of this book.

[Jessica M · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone with a fair amount of Irish ancestry, I was so curious to read this book! Meagher does an amazing job discussing the experience of Irish immigrants and how they were treated in different areas of the United States through time. There is also a discussion on religious differences from Ireland. This was a quick, captivating read (especially for nonfiction) and full of food for thought. I think this would be good book for anyone interested in learning about the experience of Irish Americans in the early days, or a good gift for someone interested in Irish history.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fellow Americans: I address this review specifically to those among you who have come to this page to see if this book might be a suitable gift for your hard-to-shop-for relative or friend of Irish heritage. In my mind's eye, I see this person as an older man (actually, OK, I see my late father), not because older men are necessarily more literate, but because women can more plausibly be seen as the happy recipient of earrings or clothes, and younger people are often perfectly content to receive a gift card.

This book is scholarly. It is published by Yale University Press and the author is a professor of history at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. – it's difficult to get more scholarly than that. I enjoyed getting deep into the weeds of the Irish-American experience, with a lot of statistics, names, and places; that's the sort of nerd I am. If your gray-haired Hibernian ancestor is of the type that likes to exercise his (or her) intellect by a deep dive into now-mostly-forgotten names and places that shaped the Irish-American experience, then by all means this book will answer nicely for that purpose. However, if said elder is the type who looks to reading as a method of escaping from the cares of the day, then this might not be the best choice, as it contains (1) a lot of details to remember, (2) near-constant reminders that the Irish-American past was almost always as stress- and conflict-filled as the present, and (3) hardly any amusing anecdotes of Irish people being their usual charming, difficult, and weird selves.

This book can give the satisfaction that you might get from knowing more about a topic today than yesterday, but it cannot give the entertainment that Irish histories sometimes give when they give in to the temptation to include an inevitable wry comment or two from a Celtic participant in the proceedings. Even Mr. Dooley, the fictional Irish bartender who was popular character in the 1900-era newspaper columns of Finley Peter Dunne, and who can usually be counted on to make an appearance to decrease the relentless seriousness of the era, gets a mere single shout-out in the book, and is not quoted, not even once.

This is to say: this book is worthwhile, but it is not fun in the conventional sense of the word, nor is it at any point amusing.

I received a free electronic copy of this book to review in the early-autumn 2023 dump of complimentary books for reviewers, which (I believe) is timed so that books can be read in time for the reviews can appear before the Christmas gift season, the time during which the publishing industry makes most of its ever-decreasing revenues. I got six books, mostly history, at this time, yet this was the last book of the set that I read, long after Christmas (sorry). The reason: I chose my next read by sampling the opening chapter of each book, and then reading the one which grabbed my interest most completely. I am sad to say that this book came in last place in this competition. I think it's important to share this detail as the beginning of this book is an especially dense set of ancient occurrences, virtually all of them outside of North America. This first chapter might completely extinguish the interest of those who feel that books must be read, without skimming, from beginning to end. On the other hand, this might be a good book to pick up and go directly to the last chapter or two, which seemed to be an easier read as they recall events that, often, people in our era have heard or read about, or even personally lived through.

(Read my review of the narrative history that won the competition for most compelling first chapter here.)

I'd say that this book would be an excellent choice for a university-level survey of Irish-American history. I'm not sure that (in our times) any courses of this type still exist, even at Catholic University.

I received a free advance electronic copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

[Lori S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irish immigration to the United States been a thing since 1585 when immigrants landed at Roanoke. But the way the immigrants assimilated into their new surroundings was quite different depending on both the timing and their religion. The earliest immigrants were from Northern Ireland and were mostly Protestant. It wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century that there was a shift to mostly Catholic immigrants. How these different groups viewed themselves in the new country was also different, depending on timing and generation.

Timothy J Meagher has provided a fine timeline of Irish immigration in the United States. He frames this first by providing an overview of Irish history, with particular regard to the background of the Protestant and Catholic peoples within the country and set up the circumstances under which they chose to leave Ireland for the American continent. He then shows how the different waves of immigrants adjusted to their new lives but often still held strong ties to their mother country for identity, even when they were second generation and beyond. In the latter waves there was also attention paid to other immigrant groups, such as those from Germany, Poland and Italy. They had much in common with these groups and yet had distinction too. Eventually there came the powers struggles that came in the political and gangland sectors, particularly between the Irish and Italians. It was all quite interesting to read about and gave a better understanding of the place of the Irish people within the world and within the United States.

My only quibble with what I read was the way John F. Kennedy's election as president felt more like a side note than the momentous part of Irish assimilation that it was. I felt it was mentioned more in the epilogue than in the main text. Otherwise, this was a most engaging read that I recommend to all who have interest in the immigration to the United States, both before and after it became a separate country. But it is most especially of interest to those with Irish heritage and those with interest in the Irish American experience. I will add that this tends more to a scholarly work and is not a light read. As much as I enjoyed it, I took my time so that I could take in as much detail as possible.

Overall, I give this book four stars and highly recommend it for those not afraid of some heavy reading. I would like to than Yale Press and Netgalley for giving me this advanced reader copy. I have provided this review with no obligation.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it seems to be a continually moving target, according to Ancestry DNA, I am 17% Irish. My mother’s maiden name is one of the classic Irish names, and through genealogical research I have discovered my ancestors through her which came to Iowa before and during the Great Famine. I have also discovered Irish ancestors who first emigrated to Scotland or northern England before they, or their descendants, decamped to America.

My story is far from unique; a very high percentage of Americans have Irish heritage. Timothy J. Meagher has written Becoming Irish American: The Making and Remaking of a People from Roanoake to JFK to help us contextualize and understand ourselves and the experience of our ancestors.

Meagher begins by describing the history of Ireland as far as we can know it since soon after the fall of the Western Roman Empire until the discovery of America, describing the condition of the Gaelic Irish, how the Norman Irish came to be, and the reason for the existence of the Scots-Irish.

The rest of the book simultaneously explores Irish history and the history of Irish immigration in America until 1960 and the election of John F. Kennedy. The author describes how the Irish were understood in American society but also how various Irish groups saw themselves in America, at times maintaining ethnic distinctiveness, and at other times associating more strongly with the American ethos. The development, advancement, and challenges of Irish Roman Catholicism are set forth. The author does not shy away from the legacy of racism among the Irish American populations, especially in major cities.

The author is not only concerned about immigration itself; he also speaks of those who remained in Ireland, but also the second, third, and later generations of Irish Americans and how they related to Ireland and to America.

This is a helpful introductory history for those of us with some level of Irish or Scots-Irish ancestry, or for anyone interested in the Irish American experience.

[Abigail Keaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I should not have continued reading this once I realized it was not what I thought it was. This was kind of a dense history of Irish immigration to the US and I found it easy to get lost in the weeds of each chapter without taking anything revolutionary from the overall narrative. I did appreciate the author's call at the end of the book to consider Irish Americans as a completely distinct group of people (and maybe ethnic group?) from the Irish in Ireland. Though they share common ancestors, ultimately they've been shaped by such different forces in the years since that it starts to grate when Irish Americans claim something associated with the contemporary country that really does not seem to fit their own lived experiences, nor that of their parents and grandparents. The history of Irish Americans in this country is interesting, and often overlaps with Catholic history in general (thank you Global Catholicism sophomore Fall), and I think this book did a great job at highlighting how and why Irish (Catholic) Americans are unique. That said, I wanted more of a discussion of Irish Americanness in the 20th and 21st centuries as well as more discussion of the ways Irish Americans have remained a distinct ethnic group in white America (because I'm skeptical of that today?) and the idea of ethnicity vs nationality. The prologue introduced these ideas but I really wanted Meagher to go into greater detail. Overall I felt this was more of a historical overview of the US through an Irish lens than an actual dissection of the people.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming Irish American was particularly interesting to me as a first-generation American of Irish parents. I don’t have much sense of early Irish American history because the family stories I heard were from Ireland. The book provides a thorough history of the Irish in America -- the waves of immigration, the reasons behind them and how the immigrants lived in their new country.

It's a well-researched account that's not always rosy. Irish Americans will often point out that they were discriminated against when they arrived, but they typically neglect to mention how quick they were to shift from oppressed to oppressor, eagerly signing on to be slave hunters or Pinkertons.

He discusses the impact of the Irish on American religion, politics, business, and entertainment. Although Timothy J. Meagher is a historian by trade and the book is dense with data, it's very readable. You can read it quickly, following the narrative, or take your time understanding the details and context.

I would recommend this book to anyone of Irish descent. It would also make a great gift as long as the recipient is likely to value the truth even if it's not pretty.

I received this Advanced Reader Copy of Becoming Irish American from Yale University Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[William Shep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Meagher wonderfully distills his lifetime of knowledge into a densely packed yet highly accessible prose style. A couple of small quibbles, but one more chapter bringing us up to the 21st century instead of stopping at JFK might have been better. At least he would have had no excuse to ignore that other great Irish-American president, Ronald Reagan! Meagher is very fair minded to both Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and the English crown, given the highly problematic history Irish Catholics have had with each. He is also to be credited with his 'warts and all' approach, to paraphrase someone not unknown to Irish history, Oliver Cromwell, in addressing regrettable and almost chronic Irish-American conflicts with other ethnic groups, and especially African-Americans. He also credits John Barry as the founder of the U.S. Navy when that honor is jointly shared with Barry's friend and colleague, the Scottish-American (and Protestant) John Paul Jones. Still, these are small things overall that hardly detract from Meagher's lasting achievement of crafting an almost instant masterpiece, equally valuable to the connoisseur of American history as well as certain required reading for college students.

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am descended on my mother’s side from Irish immigrants of the late 1840’s. Thanks to two great aunts who documented in writing the history of the family, I know some about the migration of the Irish during the potato famine. But I knew nothing about the immigrants arriving during our colonial period or even after the famine. Their reasons for leaving Ireland, where they settled, what they did for a living, family and social lives….so varied over the years and heavily influenced by their religion and their native county in Ireland… all covered in this book and very interesting.
Politics has always been a huge factor in the lives of Irish Americans and much of the book focuses on this…perhaps a bit too much for my tastes…and did seem repetitive at times. However, I looked forward to reading about the Kennedy family and John’s Presidential race and win. This was a momentus event for American Irish. Disappointed that only a few paragraphs covered this.

This book is well written, fairly easy to read for historical nonfiction. I would recommend to readers interested in the history of the Irish in America. American Irish Catholics may find this book particularly interesting as it covers history of parochial schools, the K of C, the Legion of Decency.

[Tim Morrissey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly academic yet nonetheless honest history of Irish America that ends with the author’s own formation of an Irish American consciousness, separate from modern Ireland.

I wish it had gone up to the present day. As a young Irish American, I can see the legacies of what he talks about in my own family. Irish America did not end with Kennedy, and it currently exists at a bit of a cross roads where Irish nationals begrudge it and Irish Americans largely abandon it to the month of March.

It took me a while to read because it is so dense, but was thought provoking the whole way through.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The metamorphosis of Irish American identity from the famine to 1962 as told in broad brush strokes. The focus is on large urban environments such h as Chicago, New York and Boston, leaving the reader wondering how thus change was felt in the smaller urban centers that lacked the machines of the late 19th and early twentieth century.

[Emma Browall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book is more of a textbook or companion book for a college course. While there was certainly good and interesting information, it was extremely dry. I think it would have benefited from being more broken up within the chapters. Some paragraphs were a full page long and it made it difficult to get through and retain the information. I would like to see another author take on this topic and perhaps do a history of Irish Americans as told through a few select individuals.

[Danielle McIntee · Rating 3 out of 5]

would’ve structured the book differently — would have done it by topic and not by time period as the content got very repetitive.

otherwise a fascinating read where most of irish american history isn’t marked with a sense of irish pride until kennedy/post kennedy era

[Robert Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good info here but boy is it thick. I wouldn’t recommend reading this outside of an academic setting.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written survey of the various Irish immigration waves to the USA, and how those generations thrived and incorporated themselves into ultimately becoming American.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other reviewers have noted, this is dense and a slog. Impeccably researched, though, and it shows.