National Network for Equitable Library Service

Once upon a time in America, storefront help-wanted signs reading "Irish Need Not Apply" were commonplace. Back then, the Irish were considered fit for only the most menial, hazardous or undignified of jobs. But for a culture of survivors, if the famine didn't kill them, a little ditch digging wouldn't either. And so Irish grandparents and great grandparents struggled and fought and finally flourished in their new land. Today, millions of Americans can trace their ancestry to Ireland. This small volume is a love letter to Irish heritage, a reminder of shared experience, forgotten traditions and the beliefs and attitudes that define the Irish Americans. It contains reminiscences, common memories and stereotypes — some deserved, others not. Sometimes funny, sometimes nostalgic and touching, this book is an everyman's history of a nation of immigrant survivors, a tribute to Irish Americans and their ancestors.