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Hailing back to ancestors who fled northern Gaul to the mysterious Ireland of 2,000 years ago, this remarkable blend of Irish and later North American history reaches forward to the presidential election of John F. Kennedy and the present. Along the way the author -- an American writer long living in Ireland -- explores a particular corner of Ulster in exquisite detail, a hidden parish of County Monaghan called Aughnamullen that once thrived on flax growing and linen making until the industrial age and mass emigration said goodbye to all that. By the 1830s, the Monaghan sept was scattering to Canada's Prince Edward Island -- once a next stop from Ulster -- before continuing on to the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts where thousands of Irish linen spinners were pulled into the massive textile mills at the epicenter of the industrial revolution. But the author's great-great grandfather wanted out and tried to return to pastoral farming in upstate New York. Another generation and John Stephen Monaghan moved to western Connecticut where a booming brass industry was turning that alloy into gold. Becoming the master caster at the master manufacturer of that then miracle substance, John S. worked over flaming cauldrons through the night. But he thrived so well, the next generation would go to medical and law school, sing arias and transform school nursing in the "Brass City" of Waterbury, Connecticut, even as it vied with Boston to become the most Irish town in America. The family became noted politically, On a storied night in November 1960 John F. Kennedy closed his campaign to become the first Irish-Catholic president in history with a 3 a.m. speech to thousands amassed on Waterbury's town green with Congressman John S. Monagan at his side. This may have sealed his victory. All across America, and especially back in Ireland, Kennedy's ascendency became emblematic of the coming of age of an entire people, so long destitute and oppressed, From Ancient Ulster to the Fires of a New World is a family history and much more. It is peopled with incredible figures -- from absentee English landlords, to the nefarious "Orangeman" of Sam Gray who kicked in doors at dawn, and American immigrants who flocked into service for their country and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and Vietnam. Deeply researched, the book comes with over 140 drawings and photographs, from the early Massachusetts textile mills to the stage of George Cohan, and the Kennedys.
