1140 Reviews of Books through the lenses of gender, religion, the arts, and pol- less rural, and less poor than has commonly been as- itics, this character reflects a confluence of new and old sumed. The links between Ireland and America are por- world identities and a complex culture that echoes the trayed in an insightful and fresh manner, as more sym- settlement process more generally. The book is none- biotic and evenly balanced than previously thought. At theless replete with New York characters, street names, times, however, experiences on either side of the At- and institutions that reflect its vibrant cosmopolitanism lantic appear to be more parallel than transplanted, and and provide a specific backdrop for this particular set- the generational differences, especially between Irish- tlement. born immigrants, remain underexplored. The crucial Throughout the book, Kelly highlights the diversity risk throughout is that the impact and dynamics of lo- of the New York Irish. Citing accountants, shoe and cation and place are minimized. Overall however, boot wholesalers, plumbers, lawyers, booksellers, and a Kelly’s repositioning of Irish influence in the Irish long list of prosperous and educated people, she por- American encounter represents a valuable and impor-

trays groupings of middle-class and thriving Irish men tant contribution to our understanding of the multidi- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/111/4/1140/27065 by guest on 01 October 2021 and women who have remained largely invisible within mensional nature of Irish settlement and posits an en- the familiar Irish American canon, especially on the gaging and appealing argument. east coast. Focusing on women in particular she high- U´ NA N´I BHROIM´EIL lights an array of varied classes and convictions: middle- Mary Immaculate College, class women who had fallen on hard times; society University of Limerick women organizing balls and charity functions; nuns; and, most significantly, the more hard-edged, female- MICHAEL DOORLEY. Irish-American Diaspora National- led, political groups, especially the sisterhood ism: The Friends of Irish Freedom, 1916–1935. Portland, and the Irish Women’s Council, which combined na- Oreg.: Four Courts Press. 2005. Pp. 223. $55.00. tionalism and feminism. In terms of religious diversity Kelly estimates that there were at least 50,000 Irish Despite its rise to prominence at a dramatic juncture in Protestants in New York by 1860, whom she terms the Irish American history, the Friends of Irish Freedom “quiet men (and women)” but who nonetheless played (FOIF) is typically overshadowed by the and a distinct part in the formation of the city’s Irish iden- within the turbulent Home Rule era of the tity. Less quiet perhaps were the parades of the Orange later nineteenth century and the early decades of the Order, the most important of which took place on July twentieth. Nonetheless, the organization occupied a 12 and which occasioned a violent riot in 1871. Yet, distinct niche within early twentieth-century Irish clashes between the two Irish traditions were not the American political culture. The political upheavals mainstay of Protestant Irishness in New York, and shifting Ireland out of colonial dependency and into Kelly cites connections and cross-cultural affinity be- Free State sovereignty also influenced the development tween them in organizations such as The Friendly Sons of modern Irish American identity, and the FOIF mer- of St. Patrick and the Protestant Friends of Ireland and its attention as a key contributor to the process. Al- in the rhetoric of republicanism. though the road to Ireland’s independence has been Rhetoric and language provided a fundamental link heavily trafficked by historians, Michael Doorley’s with Ireland during these decades. Referencing popular transatlantic perspective presents new vantage points. literature and the pages of New York’s Irish press, Kelly His study of the FOIF as the public face of “diaspora points to a shared memory of the “race” and suggests nationalism” bridges national boundaries at a crucial that the language of writers, poets, and balladeers who point in the course of modern Ireland and the evolution extolled a proud Irish heritage and tradition provided of modern Irish America. a “beacon of hope” for immigrants and a central unity A product of political currents earlier mobilized of purpose in the search for pride in an independent within Fenianism and Clan na Gael and subsequently Ireland. This solidarity of the race was again evident in fed by several other organizations invested in the con- the fact that every window in the new St. Patrick’s Ca- stitutional-nationalist agenda, the FOIF reflected the thedral bore the name of an Irish benefactor. Kelly sug- variegated nature of Irish American nationalism by the gests that while Catholicism was in the midst of a de- 1910s. Mindful of Tone-like republicanism, votional revolution in both Ireland and America at this O’Connellite influence, and radicalism, time, it was New York City that gave the Irish the free- the organization shepherded a broadly configured po- dom to build an edifice as splendid and as central as St. litical legacy through the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Patrick’s. This freedom of organization also allowed the Rising. Invoking the Fenian spirit—if not its methods— Irish to grasp opportunities in the political sphere. and Mitchel-inspired dynamism, Doorley argues that Once again, Kelly provides insight not just into the ward the FOIF foundation in the year of rebellion marked a politics long associated with the Irish but into the “black new phase in Irish American activism. Famine-era tie” division epitomized by Michael Norton, Thomas F. trauma and “a hostile American environment” (p. 13) Grady, and William Bourke Cockran as well. yielded a compelling platform from which to mine both Kelly challenges the hegemonic picture of the Irish recent past and ancestral heritage to cultivate an or- immigration experience in a specific location. As other ganization worthy of representing twenty million Irish historians have observed, the Irish were less Catholic, Americans.

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Doorley dutifully weighs and measures a slew of na- ership and should be consulted throughout. While tionalist influences, and it is not until midway through much remains to be explored on interconnections be- the book that he breaks from familiar territory to ex- tween ethnic Irish American culture and the political pand his transatlantic focus in distinct fashion. The world beyond the bounds of nationalist affiliation, FOIF’s reaction to post-1916 progressions in Ireland Doorley’s study offers a judicious assessment of the tri- and to Wilsonian responses at home grounds Doorley’s als and tribulations of a key contributor to Irish Amer- argument that despite its best efforts, the organization ican culture. His careful account of the organization’s proved incapable of directing affairs three thousand role in grounding modern Irish American ethnic iden- miles eastward. The FOIF emerged as the most coher- tity merits the attention of all interested in the process. ent political voice of Irish America, Doorley claims, tes- MARY C. KELLY tifying to its achievement at a point of transition be- Franklin Pierce College tween settlement and integration for the ethnic

community. However, the transatlantic gap between STEPHEN BROADBERRY and MARK HARRISON, editors. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/111/4/1140/27065 by guest on 01 October 2021 ancestral home and New World assimilation proved too The Economics of World War I. New York: Cambridge expansive to bridge. Beneath the shadow of interna- University Press. 2005. Pp. xvi, 345. $80.00. tional war (and localized rebellion in Dublin), thou- sands joined a group dedicated to a dream for Ireland, Economics matter in waging war; the question is, how but more invested in full integration into the nation of much? For Stephen Broadberry and Mark Harrison the their birth. answer is straightforward: “Ultimately, economics de- Judge Daniel Cohalan, activist , and the termined the outcome” of World War I (p. 5). One of bold-faced FOIF leadership professed loyalty to Amer- the objectives of this collection of essays, a companion ica and opposition to Britain through a trying period as to Harrison’s earlier volume, The Economics of World the FOIF beat a convoluted path in support of Amer- War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison ica’s role in World War I. Wilsonian concern with a (1988), is to convince the skeptical that this is in fact so. sound American-British relationship solidified hostili- A second is to trace the legacy of the war, to demon- ties and the League of Nations campaign intensified the strate that its costs lasted decades after the guns had disquiet as E´amon de Valera, Patrick McCartan, and fallen silent. To make their case the editors have so- other visitors from Ireland in 1919–1920 further com- licited contributions that cover the economic history of plicated the FOIF mission. Doorley charts a careful the major belligerents as well as two leading neutrals, course through the treaty negotiations and the Paris the United States and Holland. The result is a welcome peace conference, framing the Government of Ireland addition to the historical literature on the war. Act as the showdown that finally nailed FOIF colors The economic history of the war has been written, at aloft. Irish Americans in general, and the FOIF in par- least in the West, with a marked emphasis on the doings ticular, responded positively to the treaty, and Doorley of Britain, Germany, France, and to a lesser degree, the exploits the reaction to persuade us that Irish American United States. Other states appear fitfully, as part of a nationalism could finally shift away from its roots across larger story, such as Russia, where the economic history the Atlantic to play out within its United States home of the war has been seen as preparatory to the Russian base. Revolution. Still others, notably the Ottoman Empire, Acceptance of the treaty in Ireland and the resultant are neglected entirely. Happily this volume goes some degeneration into civil war encouraged the FOIF to re- way to rectifying these oversights. Among the most in- place primary attention to Ireland with American is- teresting essays are those devoted to the Ottoman Em- sues. These failed to sustain momentum within the pire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian group, and Doorley situates the resultant decline of the Empire. For many historians the contribution on the organization within the twin pillars of accomplishment Ottoman Empire will break new ground, because so lit- and redundancy. The achievement of Ireland’s Free tle exists in English on the economics of its war effort. State status as the vital disconnect between the ances- S¸evket Pamuk demonstrates that the “predominantly tral home and the adopted homeland rendered the or- agrarian” (p. 113) structure of the Ottoman economy ganization moribund within a decade as the member- imposed shackles upon the state’s ability to fight a ship entered a more comfortable phase in the course of large-scale modern war. Similarly, Max-Stephan ethnic identity development. Schulze on Austria-Hungary and Peter Gatrell on Rus- Doorley’s history builds on several landmark studies sia show the strains that the war imposed upon these of the forces and personalities shaping Irish America, frail economies, although both challenge the assump- deploying the FOIF to clarify points of divergence be- tion that prewar difficulties were insurmountable in tween the American diaspora and the people of Ire- waging modern war. land. The book makes a solid contribution to the history Scholars will find that the charts, tables, and figures of the Irish in America and presents a welcome example that abound in these essays constitute a rich source of of a study grounded in the transatlantic context. The information that furnishes the means to tackle diverse sidelight into non-Irish ethnic politics in the epilogue is questions. Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur on France and too brief to generate much comparative insight, but the Broadberry and Peter Howlett on the United Kingdom appendixes add value on the FOIF mission and lead- provide numbers that allow for clearer argument in the

AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW OCTOBER 2006