Shanty Irish

By: John Sayles and Mark Dawidziak and Jim Tully and Paul J. Bauer

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: A hard-edged mixture of hilarious and heartbreaking memories, Tully's autobiographical 1928 book digs deep into the soil of his native Ohio to show what life was like in the late nineteenth century for a poor Irish-American family. Within the covers of this acclaimed work, we meet the author's father, also named Jim Tully, "a gorilla built" ditchdigger whose stooped shoulders carry "the inherited burdens of a thousand dead Irish peasants. " We meet his mother, Biddy, a "woman of imagination" who "had all the moods of April. " We meet his uncle, ruthless John Lawler, who was tried, convicted, and sentenced to fifteen years in the Ohio penitentiary for stealing horses. And we meet his grandfather, Old Hughie Tully, "born with the gift of words"--"capable of turning death into an Irish wake and pouring liquor down the throat of the corpse. " Old Hughie, "never without a tale to tell," emerges as the most vividly drawn character in a book packed with unforgettable characters. Tully's most deeply personal book, Shanty Irish had a profound impact on readers and other leading American writers of the 1920s. Mencken said, “In Shanty Irish ... he has gone far beyond any of his work of the past.” Indeed, a book soaked in mud and whiskey, Shanty Irish is at turns brutal, sentimental, ironic, lyrical, humorous, and tragic."