March is Irish-American Heritage month, and here at the library we’re celebrating the achievements, literary contributions, and music of Irish-American immigrants and their descendants.
Library Event:
Live Irish Music Concert: Charlie Zahm and Tad Marks.
Sunday, 3/25 @ 2pm. Main Branch.
Book Recommendations:
The Greatest Brigade: How the Irish Brigade Cleared the Way to Victory in the American Civil War by Thomas J. Craughwell
“The Greatest Brigade is an exciting journey through the major battles of the Civil War alongside the members of the famed Irish Brigade. Well researched, compellingly written, filled with fascinating illustrations, and with a story that holds the reader with a ‘bulldog grip,’ Thomas Craughwell has written a regimental history that deserves to be on every Civil War lover’s bookshelf.”—Jason Emerson, author of The Madness of Mary Lincoln and Lincoln the Inventor
Thomas J. Craughwell, author Stealing Lincoln’s Body and The Buck Stops Here: The 28 Toughest Presidential Decisions and How They Changed History, reveals the reasons why thousands of Irish Catholics—the most despised immigrant group in America at the time—rallied to the Union cause and proved themselves to be among the most ferocious fighters of the war. He examines the character of the Irish Brigade’s two most popular commanders, Michael Corcoran, a man of unshakable principles, and Thomas Francis Meagher, a complex man with many fine qualities—and almost as many flaws. –Taken from Goodreads.com.
Hoopla Audio Book:
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. Narrated by the Author.
“Imbued on every page with Frank McCourt’s astounding humor and compassion. This is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.
‘When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.’
So begins the Pulitzer Prize winning memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy– exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling– does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.” –Taken from Goodreads.com.
If you don’t already have a Hoopla account, you can click on the following link and then click “Get Started Today.” You will need a valid FTPL Card. https://www.hoopladigital.com/
Thanks for reading! Leave a comment below!
-George, FTPL
