Search results for ""Author Terry Golway""

History casts Tammany Hall as shorthand for the worst of urban politics: graft and patronage personified by notoriously crooked characters. In his groundbreaking work Machine Made, journalist and historian Terry Golway dismantles these stereotypes, focusing on the many benefits of machine politics for marginalized immigrants. As thousands sought refuge from Ireland’s potato famine, the very question of who would be included under the protection of American democracy was at stake. Tammany’s transactional politics were at the heart of crucial social reforms—such as child labor laws, workers’ compensation, and minimum wages— and Golway demonstrates that American political history cannot be understood without Tammany’s profound contribution. Culminating in FDR’s New Deal, Machine Made reveals how Tammany Hall “changed the role of government—for the better to millions of disenfranchised recent American arrivals” (New York Observer).

Read more less

In our current dismal passage of American politics, it's exhilarating to read about a politician who exemplified all the qualitiescourage, honesty, vision, energy, disdain for hypocrisy, concern for the downtroddenthat we were taught to revere....Remarkable. Wall Street JournalFiorello LaGuardia was one of the twentieth century's most colorful politicianson the New York and national stage. He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants, who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah. Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known. It's time to bring back LaGuardia, argues historian and journalist Terry Golway, to remind us all what an effective municipal officer (as he preferred to call himself) can achieve...Golway examines LaGuardia's extraordinary career through four essential qualities: As a patriot, a dissenter,

Read more less

This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the history, growth, and extraordinary legacy of New York’s largest Christian denomination. Co-published with the Museum of the City of New York as a companion to its exhibition on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Archdiocese of New York, this book brings together rare images and original essays to explore the key dimensions of the Catholic experience in New York. Here is a fascinating pictorial record of Catholic struggles and triumphs, and thirteen insightful essays that trace the story of Catholic New York—from people, parishes, and traditions to the schools, hospitals, and other institutions that helped shape the metropolis. The struggles of generations of immigrants and their descendents against prejudice bear fruit in the remarkable ascendance of Catholics in the city’s politics. From the emblematic account of one Manhattan parish’s life across generations of neighborhood change to fresh perspectives on the extraordinary impact of Catholic institutional life on the making of the city, the essays range widely. There’s a personal refl ection by Pete Hamill on growing up Catholic as well as revealing explorations of the Catholic presence in all corners of New York’s social, political, cultural, and educational worlds. Catholic leaders such as Dorothy Day, Al Smith, and Mother Cabrini come to life in other essays. An afterword offers a look at Catholic New York facing new realities of race, ethnic change, and suburbanization after World War II. Blending memorable images with insightful commentary, Catholics in New York tells not just the story of the city’s largest community of faith, but offers a new telling of what is for everyone a classic New York story.

Read more less

The story of John Devoy’s 1876 Catalpa rescue is a tale of heroism, creativity, and the triumph of independent spirit in pursuit of freedom. The daily log on board the whaling ship Catalpa begins with the typical recount of a crew intact and a spirit unfettered, but such quiet words deceive the truth of the audacious enterprise that came to be known as one of the most important rescues in Irish American history. John Devoy’s men rescued six Irish political prisoners from the Australian coast, allowing millions of fellow Irishmen and American-Fenians, many of whom secretly financed the dangerous plot, to draw courage from the newly exiled prisoners. Philip Fennell and Marie King tell the story from John Devoy’s own records and the ship's logbooks. John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition includes an introduction by Terry Golway and the personal diaries, letters, and reports from John Devoy and his men.

Read more less