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Summary Of The Irish Way By James Barrett

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The Irish Way is a historical non-fiction book written by James Barrett. This book is about Irish immigrants and their journey towards Americanization and assimilation upon their arrival to the United States. It also shows the impacts of their influence on many major American cities, as well as on immigrants of different ethnicities. Barrett’s purpose for this work is to show the lives of multiple generations of Irish Catholic Americans. In addition, he wanted to expand on the relationships that they had with other ethnic groups and how this created a long standing multiethnic identity. In my opinion, this book was very well written and informative, although at times it was very repetitive and long-winded.
Summary
The Great Famine in Ireland, …show more content…

The book also reveals what immigrants from other ethnicities went through upon their arrival. Mainly dealing with the impacts of seeing that the Irish were everywhere, controlling almost all of the jobs. Some of the main points of The Irish Way are the struggles that the Irish went through to become Americanized and how other ethnicities began to see them as the prime example for the ideal American. It also dealt with their often harsh relationships with other ethnicities. One of the main themes I noticed throughout the book was that the Irish had a very protect their own and territory type of mentality. This was a result of the discrimination that they faced upon their arrival. They realized that they could only succeed as a group and needed to create an identity. The author developed this by providing description on gangs and how at often times discriminated against other cultures. This sort of prejudice was for many different reasons depending on the culture or ethic group. For example there was a constant struggle between African Americans and the Irish for jobs. Then there was the tension with the Italians because of the Irish want for an Irish Catholic church. They ended up helping spread ethnic …show more content…

He also showed their influence on the formation of a multiethnic city, not just in their daily lives but also on a broader spectrum as well. From the Irish’s influence roles in the streets of large industrialized cities to their roles in the nation. Some strengths I noticed in this book were descriptive detail and in depth analysis. For example, when the author mentioned that the Irish began to form gangs he would give examples of some, such as the Gophers, and the reasons behind why they did it; for territory. A major weakness of the book that it was often dry and hard to get through. There were multiple times when I had to put it down and resume reading another day. Several aspects of the book began to become repetitive and I felt like I was reading the same thing over in every chapter. Although it was a tough book to get through it did provide me with a greater understanding of the Irish culture as well as their history upon arrival in

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