Description
Book SynopsisTraces the evolution of "Irish" as a race-based identity in the U.S. from the 19th century to the present day.
Trade ReviewJennifer Nugent Duffys impressive ambition is to address often-overlooked differences in perspective among the Irish in America and examine the disagreements that result. Duffys account configures a three-cornered fight featuring Irish American ethnics, an intermediate group of Irish immigrants from the 1950s, and the more recent arrivals of the last thirty years. With salient distinctions that follow up on earlier accounts of immigrant-ethnic tensions in Irish America during the 1990s, the author attributes such antipathies to two superstructural factors: the international rise of neoliberalism and the whiteness-studies notion of Irish American ethnicity as a & race-based tradition. * The Journal of American History *
Artfully knitting together the local and the national,Duffy's book is a clear-sighted account of the racial protocols of Irishness. Through ethnographic fieldwork and dexterous theorization, she richly illuminates numerous (sometimes contradictory) dimensions of the experience of being Irish-American and the ideological norms and social practices of one ethnic group's 'race-based tradition.' This book is a significant addition to the literature on Irishness in America. -- Diane Negra,University College Dublin
Duffy makes excellent use of Irish testimonials gathered from extensive ethnographic fieldwork that she intertwines throughout her book; the result is a compelling narrative.Summing Up: Highly recommended. -- J.M. O'Leary * CHOICE *
The basis of Nugent Duffy's book is that she divided the Irish into 'Good Paddies' and 'Bad Paddies' . . . but really finds there is little difference between them. -- Niall O'Dowd * IrishCentral.com *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Who's Your Paddy? Irish Immigrant Generations in Greater New York 1. From City of Hills to City of Vision: The History of Yonkers, New York 2. Good Paddies and Bad Paddies: The Evolution of Irishness as a Race-Based Tradition in the United States 3. Bar Wars: Irish Bar Politics in Neoliberal Ireland and Neoliberal Yonkers 4. They're Just Like Us: Good Paddies and Everyday Irish Racial Expectations 5. Bad Paddies Talk Back 6. Paddy and Paddiette Go to Washington: Race and Transnational Immigration Politics Conclusion: To BelongNotes Index About the Author
