Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America

Great book! Well-written tales of growing up Irish American; NYC based, but rang lots of Boston bells too.

A big fan of Quinn's historical fiction novels "Banished Children of Eve" and "Hour of the Cat," I knew I was in the hands of an expert author and historian in "Looking for Jimmy." Quinn gets personal in this collection of essays about the Irish in America. As he shares stories of his family, I'm reminded of my own, or the lack thereof. The older generations didn't speak much about Ireland or the trials and harsh tales of their immigration and integration into the new world. Quinn notes the silence and dearth of artifacts. The phrase "Watch the quiet ones" comes to mind. May as well say, watch the Irish ones. Thankfully, Quinn is not quiet. He watches them all, researches, studies and considers, takes account and conveys the story and motivation of a people across generations. It's all too common for modern society to neglect its ancestry. The melting pot warrants, yet makes it harder to figure identity. Quinn bravely and enthusiastically explores one important and special ingredient in that pot, the Irish. He takes us to the movies with James Cagney, to the legendary story of hero Michael Corcoran, to many places the Irish permeated and permeate. What it means to be American, has a lot to do with what it means to be every other culture. Quinn's "Looking For Jimmy" helps us find him and appreciate the Irish element in the fabric of America. If we're lucky, there's a little bit of Jimmy in all of us.

The great Irish labor leader and 1916 rebel James Connally once said,"It's easier to explain socialism to the Irish than to explain the Irish to the socialists." I've always found depictions of Irish Americans--even more that the Irish in Ireland--to be riddled with stereotypes, both favorable and unfavorable. Why, I've wondered, couldn't anybody "explain" Irish Americans to their fellow Americans--i.e., capture all the confouding complexity of this people in their long day's journey from famine and rural serfdom to the top of the New World? Maybe no one story can ever capture the whole journey, but for me "Looking for Jimmy" comes as close as anyone will ever manage. I was deeply moved by this book, and though, unlike the author, I no longer have any association with organized religion (I describe myself as a "disorganized Christian"),I found his observations on faith to be filled with truth. If you're not Irish American but want to find out about them, read this book. If you are Irish American and want to find out about yourself, do the same.

This book answers the question once and for all; Are all the NY Irish dead and buried in Calvary Cemetary??? Not so.....Quinn's book riveted me from the first word written. So many of the reflections were identical to my own family and their experience in New York. The silence of our past, the quest for respectability, the fierce fidelity to the faith. I was torn between laughing and crying at the similarities. Besides the magnificent analysis and brilliant prose, I appreciate Quinn's indebtedness to the parochial school system; I too am a product of a Christian Brothers high school, then Fordham (much to the dismay of my high school teachers, no Manhattan College in my future...my father had the Jesuits at Xavier and Georgetown) If you are a New Yorker of Irish descent, this is a must read. Too few of my generation appreciate the sufferings and sacrifices of our ancestors; we have succeeded upon their shoulders. This book crystalizes that fact, and challenges us to keep faith with that past as we look to the future

This book should be required reading for all Irish-Americans or those who are interested in Irish-Americans and how we got to be who and what we are. Peter is a walking encyclopedia of all things Irish and Irish-American but has a very readable, down to earth, style of writing. Anyone with a drop of Irish blood in his or her veins will be able to identify with something in this wonderful book. The essays in this book will make you laugh and make you cry but will always leave you better informed. Do yourself a favor and read this book as soon as possible.