Recovering an Irish Voice from the American Frontier: The Prose Writings of Eoin Ua Cathail

Published: May, 2021  Pages: 288  Features: 19 b&w illus. Notes. Bib. Index.

Recovering an Irish Voice from the American Frontier is a bilingual compilation of stories by Eoin Ua Cathail, an Irish emigrant, based loosely on his experiences in the West and Midwest. The author draws on the popular American Dime Novel genre throughout to offer unique reflections on nineteenth-century American life. As a member of a government mule train accompanying the U.S. military during the Plains Indian Wars, Ua Cathail depicts fierce encounters with Native American tribes, while also subtly commenting on the hypocrisy of many famine-era Irish immigrants who failed to recognize the parallels between their own plight and that of dispossessed Native peoples. These views are further challenged by his stories set in the upper Midwest. more... about Recovering an Irish Voice from the American Frontier: The Prose Writings of Eoin Ua Cathail