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FDU PRESS
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| Scholarly Review |
 | Eccentric Nation
ISBN# 9780838641385
Reviewed by: W.W. Demastes, Louisiana State University
Choice, March 2010 |
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Rohs (cultural studies, Michigan State University) looks at notable Irish cultural performance phenomena in 19th-century New York City, linking Irish identity to the concept of public self expression. Presenting hotly contested, sometimes violent confrontations; sensational journalistic coverage; and richly negotiated outcomes, he argues firmly against the idea of a "'monolithic'" Irish identity" in the US. Rohs lists four ways identity was imagined: "communal resistance, cultural minstrelsy, memorial conflict, and cultural appropriation." He points out that in 1855, Irish immigrants struggled against American nativism, which occurred in popular songs like "The Bold Soldier Boy." By 1860, he observes, resistance gave way to acquiescence (as evidenced by Dion Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn), and in the 1870s saw a struggle with authenticity and tolerance as the Catholic-Protestant divide resulted in competing celebrations. In the late 1870s, "The Great Race" and the stereotype-affirming minstrel piece The Mulligan Guard Ball thrust Irish identity onto the center stage of New York popular culture. "Cultural Nationalism," Rohs points out, "developed in the Irish diaspora just as it did at home -- as a series of ongoing negotiations the involved the persistent emergence of performance traditions." Engaging... this welcome book makes a solid contribution to Irish American cultural history.
Recommended. All readers.
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