The Gift That Keeps on Giving
The trails of death and the circles of giving. The Irish and Native American connection. By Christine Kinealy Trails of Tears and Circles of Giving “I know the cause of humanity is one the world over,” wrote fugitive slave Frederick Douglass at the beginning of 1846, at the conclusion of his “transformative” four-month stay in Ireland. At that stage, neither he, nor the...
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Famous Genealogist Solves Her Own Family’s Mystery
Solving a long-held family history mystery leads to an enigmatic playwright By Megan Smolenyak I couldn’t understand it. My nana had an amazing memory. As a professional genealogist, I’m more aware than most that we should take our family lore with a grain of salt. Whether deliberately or accidentally, it’s distorted as it travels through the generations, but everything she told...
MoreProvisional IRA Founded 50 Years Ago
The man behind the Provisional IRA was Londoner Seán MacStiofáin. By Brian Dooley If all politics really is local, as Tip O’Neill suggested, then it’s hard to know where to place Seán MacStiofáin, founder of the Provisional IRA. MacStiofáin was born and grew up in London as John Stephenson. His father was English and his mother Irish, from Belfast. He didn’t visit Ireland...
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Rediscovering Books in the Time of the Coronavirus
By Pat Fenton Each day as I watch the news on television I wonder about the book shelves the newscasters use as back drops as many of them broadcast from their homes, newscasters like Anthony Mason from CBS “This Morning” who actually uses some of his books to prop up the make shift lighting for his show, and Maurice Dubois from CBS’ evening news, and Gloria Borger from CNN along...
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A Book’s Revival
By Brian Dooley More than 20 years ago I wrote a book about the links between the U.S. civil rights movement and the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. Black and Green did okay, reviewers were kind, and some schools and universities in the U.S. and Europe forced their students to read it. What’s surprised me is that two decades on it’s enjoying a mini-revival. Its central...
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