The Sons of Molly Maguire: The Irish Roots of America's First Labor War

by Mark Bulik

Sensational tales of true-life crime, the devastation of the Irish potato famine, the upheaval of the Civil War, and the turbulent emergence of the American labor movement are connected in a captivating exploration of the roots of the Molly Maguires. A secret society of peasant assassins in Ireland that re-emerged in Pennsylvania’s hard-coal region, the Mollies organized strikes, murdered mine bosses, and fought the Civil War draft. Their shadowy twelve-year duel with all powerful coal companies marked the beginning of class warfare in America. But little has been written about the origins of this struggle and the folk culture that informed everything about the Mollies.

A rare book about the birth of the secret society, The Sons of Molly Maguire delves into the lost world of peasant Ireland to uncover the astonishing links between the folk justice of the Mollies and the folk drama of the Mummers, who performed a holiday play that always ended in a mock killing. The link not only explains much about Ireland’s Molly Maguires―where the name came from, why the killers wore women’s clothing, why they struck around holidays―but also sheds new light on the Mollies’ re-emergence in Pennsylvania.

The book follows the Irish to the anthracite region, which was transformed into another Ulster by ethnic, religious, political, and economic conflicts. It charts the rise there of an Irish secret society and a particularly political form of Mummery just before the Civil War, shows why Molly violence was resurrected amid wartime strikes and conscription, and explores how the cradle of the American Mollies became a bastion of later labor activism. Combining sweeping history with an intensely local focus, The Sons of Molly Maguire is the captivating story of when, where, how, and why the first of America’s labor wars began.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, Politics, Labor

384 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2014

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful piece of sustained historical and academic research, very detailed, full of drama and human interest, a fascinating examination of a little known period of American history. However, I have to admit that I found it a little too detailed. Nothing wrong with the writing, just that it gave me more information than I really needed. I don’t think I’m the intended audience for this one; it is more a book for the serious historian or academic. So while I could appreciate its merits I did find myself skipping quite a bit. As the title tells us, it’s the story of the Molly Maguires, a group of Irish miners in Pennsylvania and an examination of the labour unrest at the heart of the movement. For anyone interested in Irish and American labour history, it’s a must-read – but be prepared to invest a lot of time and energy to it.

[Kathleen J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Said I was taking a break from historical academic books but alas. There's a really good recent podcast series covering the Molly Maguires too on Subliminal Jihad

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of the Molly Maguires is a compelling history of working class Ireland and America, the incredible economic struggles of these classes and the unions and their brutal treatment by owners of land and industrial operations. However, the book itself a very heavy read for those with only a nonacademic interest in the subject.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sons of Molly Maguire is really an interesting read. I thought it to be well researched and informative. I enjoyed reading about the Irish roots during this time in America. I definitely recommend it to those who want to know more about Irish American history.

Five stars.

[Mazie Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

Accuse and wonderfully written. The author completely drew me into this book that I had a had time putting it down!

[John Cramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Widely informative, and widely interesting. This book lays bare the difficulties the late 19th century Irish of Pennsylvania had merging the violence and intimidation of the historic secret societies with the more passive newly-minted workaday Irish-American citizen. It's a wild ride. It does begin to double back on itself with similar incidents which seem to repeat throughout the book. But consider that there is so much fertile historical information on the table here, and keep it going.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Irish heritage, but unfamiliar with the story of the Mollies. I actually thought it was just a ballad!!! My ancestors started to immigrate sometime before1850, and most of them went into farming in MA and CT. One grandfather was a mining engineer, and although he worked in Pittsburgh for a short time, he never worked or lived in Schuylkill or Carbon Counties. This is an immense piece of history which traces the origins of the Molly Maguires in Ireland, from the Gaelic foundations of their sense of community, to their transplantation to the mines of PA, to the community divisions created by the Civil War, and ultimately to the labor unrest and the involvement of the Pinkerton Detectives. Were the Molly Maguires framed by one mining company who wanted to take over another? That is a mystery. The author identifies references in Irish literature and folklore which I loved. Comparisons can easily be made to the current anti-union climate. At times information is unnecessarily repeated, such as the straw, clothing, and white or blackface worn on many festivals, but I was reading an uncorrected proof and hopefully the redundancies will be deleted. Not only did I learn a great deal, I just had to go online for more!

[Diane Moyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction account of the Molly Maguire organization in the northeastern section of Pennsylvania. It is fact filled and thought-provoking. My ancestors are from this region and I had heard a lot about the Maguire legend, basically that they were wrongly prosecuted and hanged. This book lays to rest the misinformation and also fills in the some of the missing material.

This book gives the evolution of the Molly Maguire from Ireland through their demise. Theirs is not an easy history to understand. They have their basis in a number of different factions that migrated from Ireland. They evolved because of the conflicts between the coal corporations and the unions that were made up mostly of Irish immigrants. The Irish immigrants treatment during the Civil War also fueled the fires that cemented their development.

I did enjoy this book and it was very enlightening. Make no mistake, this is nonfiction and is not an easy book to read. There is an abundance of names and facts that tend to be confusing. I will definitely need to revisit it and read again to get more information and understanding of what really happened.

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Making Sense of the Molly Maguires is generally the most authoritative book on the Mollies (and most books on the subject are total junk), but Bulik wrote Sons of Molly to complement Making Sense. His deep dive into the culure of Irish peasant conspiracies and mummery sheds a lot of light on the Mollies, as does his research on the civil war roots on the group. All that aside, though, Bulik is a great writer! There are plenty of parts in here that made me stop and laugh out loud. The last one I can think of is calling Reading Anthracite president Gowen a Molly Maguire...because he also killed a mine boss (...suicide)!

The only knock—it was a slog to get through some of the politics of Ireland and pre-civil war Schuylkill County.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved that this author,in his handling of the Molly Maguire incidents, went into earlier happenings with depth not found among the previous books I’ve read on the Molly Maguire. It gave me a deeper understanding and a real feel for what ancestors of mine dealt with during those times. With the mention of ancestral locales and some new information this book is a must own for me. The only issue I have with it is that it is littered with little typos everywhere!

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Violent Labor history of Irish Immigrants in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania around the time of the Civil War. Part draft riot, part labor strike, part true crime, a part reflection of Irish nationalism and the troubles, part weird folkways of Irish peasants, part labor history and indictment of capitalism. A very messy and multifaceted history of the Molly Maguires. There are no labor troubles like American labor troubles and the Irish were there.

[Anna Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a graduate course - Labor and Immigration Politics - and found the book both extremely interesting and informative to my coursework. A little dense if you do not sufficiently understand the history surrounding the story, in the beginning.

[Betty Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a historical account of an oppressed people who stood up to their oppressors in various ways at great cost to both the oppressed and the oppressors. The Irish peasant versus the landlords, the Pennsylvania miners versus the mine owners.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good history of the Irish immigrants and their resistance to exploitation. Interesting to note the "Whiteboys" were a group of Irish men that defended the Irish from abuse.

[Jerry Peace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some things never change. The story of the Molly Maguires and the labor battles in the nineteenth century Pennsylvania coal fields is the same authoritarian story of owners, choking on their own greed, starving workers and their families, and the government, buttressed by law enforcement, the military, and, shamefully, the church, groveling before the oligarchs. You might not like the violence, hell, I might not like the violence, but this book raises the eternal question of the stepped upon, the mistreated, the downtrodden, the workers: When every institution opposes one's demand for a livable wage and safe working conditions, when those very institutions that should protect the otherwise helpless are purchased minions of the capitalists, then what should the worker/victims do? What recourse is left?