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JULY-AUGUST 2008
A Collection of Fascinating Personal Memoirs
CHIEF O'NEILL'S SKETCHY RECOLLECTIONS OF AN EVENTFUL LIFE IN CHICAGO Ellen Skerrett & Mary Lesch (Editors) Northwestern University Press ISBN-10: 0-8101 -2465-3 (Cloth) ISBN-13: 978-0-8101 -2465-3 (Cloth)
Reviewed by Mary Monks
This book, with its quaintly old-fashioned title, is one I found surprising, and here's why. Much is made of O'Neill's contribution to Irish music, both in publicity about the book and in its foreword by Nicholas Carolan, director of the Irish Traditional Music Archives in Dublin.
"It is hard, if not impossible, to imagine," says Carolan, "what Irish traditional music might be like today if Francis O'Neill had not lived.. .As the driving force of a group of more than 50 musical collaborators...", he adds, "Francis O'Neill gathered from oral and printed sources some 2,600 pieces of Irish music...O'Neill's was the greatest individual influence on the evolution of Irish traditional dance music in the Twentieth Century."
Such an introduction might stimulate the interest of anyone Irish. As well, notes on the text at the beginning of the book by O'Neill's great granddaughter Mary Lesch highlighted the importance of his library, which he donated to the University of Notre Dame, and his focus on Irish history and Irish music.
And so, as a lover of both books and music, I looked forward to learning of O'Neill's lifelong interests that brought him such renown and appreciation.
With this constantly at the back of my mind, I read the book, always in anticipation that, perhaps with the next turn of the page, I would begin to hear of his passion for Irish music and history, and the assembling of this noteworthy library. I was in for a wait.
The book, as suggested by its title, is based on the personal memoirs of (Police) Chief O'Neill. Born in Tralibane, near Bantry, into a large family during the famine (in 1848), O'Neill's intelligence and abilities in reading, mathematics, and art, were evident from an early age. He tells of neighbours visiting the family home, lit only by tallow candles and dogwood splinters, to hear his father's news of the Crimean War.
On leaving school, he qualified as a teacher. Then, narrowly missing an opportunity to become a Christian brother, he determined to leave Ireland.
In doing so, he wound up working his way around the world on ships at a time when getting paid and then holding onto your money were almost impossible for a sailor.
O'Neill's "Sketchy Recollections" include a multitude of fascinating anecdotes and stories, but few references to his love of books.
His stories paint a fascinating picture of life at the end of the Nineteenth Century. Of Hawaii, for instance, he says that "contemporaneously with the Bible and the white man's religion came the white man's diseases, which the Polynesians cannot withstand. They die out rapidly...degenerate morally, and eventually lose possession of their lands," a
O'Neill's
SKETCHY KRCOLLKCTIONB
OF \\ EVENTFUL LIFE IN CUCAGO
comment that surely will resound with readers throughout North America and Australia.
O'Neill's career as a sailor was interrupted for a brief career as a shepherd (exactly where in the States is not clear), another brief time teaching in district schools, following which he once again became a sailor, this time on the Great Lakes, where "every member of the crew of the barque Sunny side ... could converse in the Irish language."
Marriage brought him ashore and to the life of a pitifully paid (01.25 a day) labourer. Eventually he attained (with the help of an appreciative alderman) ajob with the police force and a salary of $1,000 a year.
The great bulk of O'Neill's recollections in this book concern his time in the police force in Chicago, where he eventually rose to the position of Chief of Police.
Both on the way up, and during his time as Chief, he had to counter (and occasionally make use of) much political interference. Despite this, his career with the Chicago police force was impressive.
When I arrived at a chapter about his retirement (about two-thirds of the way through the book), I wondered when he began collecting his books and music. Perhaps it was a retirement hobby?
Curious, I flicked through the book's remaining pages, and discovered that these were mostly the sort of information relegated to appendices: notes, timelines, a copy of his annual report etc. It was in this chapter (Inclined to Retire), he eventually -and all too briefly - gets to Accumulating a Private Library.
"Not until the foregoing rambling record had been penned", he says, "did the idea [occur] of extending it to include a brief reference to my library, which in little more than a score of years grew into proportions not contemplated and attracted a publicity never anticipated."
The final 13 pages of the book briefly outline what is most remarkable about O'Neill: his eager and informed pursuit of books about all aspects of Irish history and music, and his collaboration with James O'Neill and Serena O'Neill (none of these O'Neills was related to any other) in documenting and then publishing the considerable repertoire of Irish music he had learned and played throughout his life.
On one hand, I felt cheated: where were the stories about this collection of books and music, and the sense of his passion for the collection? On the other, it was like finding a pearl in an oyster: a delightful gem as the culmination of a feast of anecdote and a fascinating personal history.
Welsh Minister Apologizes for Wrong Book Gaffe
CARDIFF - A Welsh Government minister has apologized after announcing the wrong winner of the Wales Book of the Year at an awards ceremony in an embarrassing gaffe.
Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the culture minister, has written to Tom Bullough, who he mistakenly named as the recipient of the £10,000 prize. He has also written to the poet Dannie Abse, whose book The Presence was the rightful winner.
The embarrassing mix-up occurred when Thomas was presenting the award for the literature promotion agency Academi at the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff.
Bullough, whose novel Claude Glass was, in fact, a runner-up, had almost reached the stage to collect the winning cheque when the mistake was noticed. The culture minister apologized for the error immediately.
Bullough returned to his seat while the award was then given to Abse, for his memoir of a 50-year marriage written after his wife died in a car crash. Bullough did not then return to the stage to collect his SI ,000 runner's-up prize.
Thomas later apologised in the Welsh Assembly chamber and to the organizers. When the matter was brought up in the Assembly by Darren Millar of the Conservatives, Thomas said it was a "misunderstanding, a genuine mistake, which I took full responsibility for."
He said, "I've apologized to Academi, I've also apologized to all the authors involved and I've written to them today again to apologize. A genuine mistake, a misunderstanding and as a minister I take full responsibility for that."
A Comprehensive
Portrait on the Transformation of Irish Society
LUCK&THE IRISH:
A Brief History of Change from 1970
By R.F. Foster
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 978-0-19-517952-1
Prosperity has come to the land of Joyce and Yeats, creating a kind of country they could never have imagined:
rich and happy -Newsweek, 20April 2001
Roy Foster's latest published commentary, Luck & the Irish: A Brief History of Change from 1970, could have been more aptly titled, 'Political Corruption from 1970'.
One of Ireland's leading historians, Foster has written an absorbing, pugnacious account of Ireland's dramatic mutation as a nation over the last three decades through fundamental changes in politics, culture and economics.
This transformation of Irish society is a deeply complex one, but Foster somehow manages to simplify and clarify issues in a comprehensive way.
Exploring issues from Ireland's FU membership and eventual economic prosperity to the Catholic Church's loss of power and ascendancy in Irish society to Irish women's roles and attitudes, this book is a good beginning for anyone interested in contemporary Ireland.
Foster's intoxicating description of the corruption during the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey years is very well chronicled.
Interesting to note that the recently
departed Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was at the time of Haughey's reign, the Fianna Fail's party secretary, freely handing over blank cheques from party funds to "Mr. Sense of Entitlement" himself, Charles Haughey - to line his own pockets.
Considerable time is given to Haughey's excesses and the reader can establish a very concise picture of the abuse of power during that time.
Foster writes about the introduction of a very low corporation tax rate to entice foreign capital. By 1995, 75 percent of foreign investment in Ireland was American due to a huge expansion of high technology firms in the U.S. looking for development abroad.
This investment was powered by the American microchip industry. By the year 2000, approximately 70 percent of Irish manufactured exports were by U.S. owned firms.
Foster has put together a well-written, informative portrait of a rapidly changing society attempting to cope with mind-boggling transitions. He is Professor of History and a Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford as well as the author of a renowned biography on Yeats.
Technology Blamed as Thousands Get Lost at Newgrange
DUBLIN - Thousands of visitors are getting lost on the way to New grange every year. That's despite EU30,000 being spent on a report over two years ago recommending ways to improve the signs to the famous megalithic tomb.
Now hi-tech Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are getting the blame - because they direct visitors to the site of the tomb rather than to the centre where visitors must go tojoinatour.
Every month, hundreds of people who have come to see one of the wonders of the ancient world are getting lost and - if they are lucky enough to find the monument - are then told they have to drive to the other side of the river to the Bru na Boinne visitors' centre to join a tour.
Meath Senator Dominic Hannigan said, "I am reliably told that in the last year alone, over 8,000 cars arrived directly at the front door of the site, only to be told that they are in the wrong place.
"They had to turn around and drive back several miles to get to the Bru na Boinne visitors' centre. Apart
from the inconvenience to visitors, and the delay to their holiday itineraries, this is causing more vehicle emissions and more unnecessary wear and tear on the roads in the Boyne Valley," he added.
The Office of Public Works said that GPS are partly to blame because when Newgrange is entered as a destination, directions are given to the monument itself, as opposed to the official visitors' centre.
The OPW-run visitors' centre is the only official way of seeing Newgrange and Knowth and is on the southside of the Boyne near Donore and mid-way between the Ml motorway and the N2 Dublin to Derry road.
However, the monuments are on the northside of the river and when they go into the centre, visitors are taken on a shuttle bus to them.
The OPW acknowledged "problems" with people turning up at the site itself and not the visitors' centre.
Two years ago, Senator Hannigan raised the problem of signage, saying poor signs were leading some coaches carrying tourists to disembark in a local housing estate.