That Most Distressful Nation: The Taming of the American Irish, Used [Paperback]

Stubborn, difficult, paradoxical, maddening, joyous, brilliant, poetic, visionary, melancholy, frustrating, bedevilling, and ingratiating - all these have been used to describe the Irish. And this unique survey of the Irish experience in America will elicit the same adjectives. For Andrew Greeley, an Irish priest and sociologist, is a man whose opinions often run against his contemporary grain. To the discussion of ethnicity in American life, he brings solid research, a fiercely independent and original mind, and an acerbic wit. His book is as entertaining as it is thought provoking. The Irish in America have achieved much for themselves as individuals - at the expense of becoming less Irish. In their effort to fit into American society they have become, as the author puts it, even more like Wasps than the Wasps. In showing how and why this is so, he shoots down several popular notions about the American Irish. What he has to say about them applies to greater or lesser degree to almost every ethnic group in the United States, where the hallowed idea of the 'melting pot' no longer evokes the same loyalties it used to. No one can remain neutral toward Andrew Greeley's contentions, and no one interested in American society can afford to neglect them.

That Most Distressful Nation: The Taming of the American Irish, Used [Paperback]