Beyond the Ballot Box: A Social History of the Boston Irish, 1845-1917

Uncovering materials stored in convents, rectories, hospitals, orphanages, parish schools, undertaking establishments, and an island dungeon in Boston Harbor, Dennis Ryan captures the ethos of immigrant Irish life.

Mr. Ryan describes how the Irish coped with poverty, the major enemy of most immigrant groups. The heroes are drawn from all segments of Boston Irish society: from William Henry Cardinal O'Connell, who insisted that all Catholic charities be operated on a sound financial basis, to an anonymous member of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, who, learning of individuals refusing to bury a neighbor, built a coffin with his own hands and 'performed all the duties of an undertaker.'

The Irish managed to make inroads into the middle class by becoming grocers, liquor dealers, contractors, undertakers, lawyers, doctors, and journalists. As late at 1917, however, the majority of Irish still found themselves in blue-collar, low-status jobs.

Illustrated with twenty-two black-and-white photographs. Includes index.