Welcome to Tom Deignan's Blog

A REVIEW OF BOOKS, POLITICS, CULTURE AND MORE...

Monday, July 22, 2019

Culture Wars: Then & Now

* The Hated, Huddled Masses (from Commonweal magazine)
* Should We Have Built a Wall in 1900? (from National Catholic Reporter)
* Terrorism & (Yesterday's) Immigration: (from Newark Star Ledger)

Image result for trump lawn sign

* America's Real "Diversity" Problem (from Newark Star Ledger)
* How We Became the United States of Dystopia (from The Washington Post)
* The Long, Tortured History of Hunger Strikes (from America magazine)
* The Bloodiest, Deadliest (and largely Forgotten) Riots in U.S. History (from Irish America magazine) 
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Monday, December 3, 2018

People Power

* How Babe Ruth Changed the World (from America magazine)

Image result for babe ruth
* Fiorello LaGuardia's Great Mystery (from The New York Times)
* Anotonin Scalia: From Jersey Boy to Legal Giant  (from the Newark Star-Ledger)
* The Complex Life of Eunice Kennedy Shriver (from National Catholic Reporter)
* The Forgotten Ruthlessness of George Washington (from America magazine)
* The Enduring Power of John Ford & John Wayne (from Irish America magazine)
* How Thomas Edison Found his Famous Home (from NJ Monthly magazine)
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Saturday, September 1, 2018

New Book

BASED ON THE BOOK: Two Immigrants, One Lesson for America (from Newark Star Ledger)

I was honored to serve as contributing writer.
RECENT & RELATED:
* Rediscovering Dublin (from Philadelphia Inquirer)
* 'Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit,' (from National Catholic Reporter)
* 'Princeton History of Modern Ireland,' (from Commonweal)
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Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Race, Class & Immigration

America cover story

RECENT & RELATED:
* The Supreme Court's Catholic Problem (from The Washington Post)
* What We Choose to Forget About Yesterday's Immigrants (from Newark Star Ledger)
* Trump, 'The Nix,' & America's 'Worst Catholics' (from National Catholic Reporter)
* Jay-Z, O.J. & 'Racist' Leprechauns (from The Irish Voice)
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Sunday, July 1, 2018

Tom Perotta's 'Leftovers'

An Interview With HBO's Writer, Producer


MORE INTERVIEWS
* Ray Donovan, Boardwalk Empire Star Brian Geraghty
* Netflix's Anne With an E Star Amybeth McNulty
* Best-Selling Author Tana French

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Friday, June 1, 2018

Hit the 'Sidewalks'

Latest Irish Voice columns

RECENT & RELATED
* (DOCUMENTARY): Kennedy's 'Irish Mafia'
* (DOCUMENTARY): 'What's Old & New on Mott Street'
* 'Eamon de Valera: A Will to Power' (America Magazine, book review)
* Fitzgerald and the 'Invention of Gatsby' (Star Ledger book review)
* Dozens of Past 'Sidewalks' Columns
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RECENT PUBLISHED WORK (BELOW): From The Star Ledger, Washington Post, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, National Catholic Reporter and more

RELIGION & POLITICS

The Big City KKK
What Really Divides Us
The Long, Deadly Shadow of the "Old" Cold War
The Faith of Science Fiction
From Babe to LeBron: Catholic Schools & Sports
On Religion, Time To Grow Up
The Catholic Church's Forgotten Victims
The Real Problem With Affirmative Action
There Is No Conspiracy!
How to Shut the Birthers Up
The Truth About the American Dream
The Police and Hypocrisy
Is It Cake or Christian 'Art'?
Losing the Patriot Game
What America Gets Right
It Ain't the Civil War We're Still Fighting

POP CULTURE

In Defense of Poor Gwyneth
The 60s Over? No Way, Man!
The Good News About TV's "Bad" Guys
The Myth of Raging Female Hormones
Are Americans Still Afraid Of Sex?
The Burbs They Are A'Changin'
Ban These Books! Please!
The Dark Side of Data
The Long, Strange History of "Fake News"
We Are All Hippies Now

PARENTING & HUMOR

Learning to Love the "Mega-Commute"
Let Your Kids Fail!
Kids Aren't the Only Tech Addicts
Nothing Funny About TV's Dumb Dads
3 Simple Rules for New Dads
Parenting Advice? Thanks But No Thanks
Should Athletes Be Prosecuted For Trash Talk?
Reading: Hazardous To Your Health?
Parents Already Have It All - That's The Problem
The Problem With Boys
Why We Need the Elite (To Bash Them, Of Course!)
A Radical Proposal for College
We Love the (Suddenly-Respectable) 80s
(Don't) Do As I Do
What's Not to 'Like'? Plenty!

NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY HISTORY

The Long, Bloody History of Domestic Terror
Garden State Nazis
Village Mystery: Where Was Fiorello LaGuardia Born
Remembering a Pioneer of Desegregation
Brooklyn: Not Just for Hipsters
When Robeson Met O'Neill
New Jersey and Internment

BOOKS (AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTOR)

  • COMING TO AMERICA
  • IRISH AMERICAN CHRONICLE
  • MCGRAW HILL'S GUIDE TO RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS
  • READER'S GUIDE TO "SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS"

BIO

TOM DEIGNAN is the author of Coming to America: Irish Americans and served as contributing writer for books such as Nine Irish Lives: The Fighters, Thinkers, and Artists Who Helped Build America, The Irish American Chronicle, the Bloom’s Guide literary criticism series, and McGraw-Hill’s annual series on race and ethnicity. His writing has appeared in newspapers such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Star Ledger and Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as magazines such as America, Commonweal and Brooklyn Rail. He writes the weekly “Sidewalks” column for The Irish Voice, (irishcentral.com). Born in Staten Island, Deignan lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children. He is working on a history of American immigration, as well as a novel set in Brooklyn on the eve of World War II.

DISCUSSIONS

20 Books Every Irish American Should Read (NYC)

20 Books... (Jersey City)

Saints and Sinners in Irish American History

Tom Deignan is available to talk to book clubs, library groups, history buffs or business organizations on a wide range of topics.

CONTACT

facebook.com/
tomdeignan

tdeignan0
@gmail.com

INTERVIEWS WITH AUTHORS, ACTORS AND MORE

ALEX GIBNEY, "Going Clear", "Mea Maxima Culpa"
JAKE WEARY, actor, "Animal Kingdom"
ED BURNS, Director and Actor
CHRIS MATTHEWS, "Hardball," "Bobby Kennedy"
SEBASTIAN BARRY, "Secret Scripture"
JAMES MARTIN, "America's Chaplain"
MATTHEW THOMAS, "We Are Not Ourselves"
SIOBHAN FALLON, "You Know When the Men Are Gone"

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS (NON-FICTION)

"White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America" (America)
"Dark Invasion: 1915, Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America" (Star Ledger)
"The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America" (National Catholic Reporter)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ARTICLES

Handmaid's Tale Unlikely Roots
The Long, Strange History of TV Cops
Joe Kennedy's Hollywood Years
Big City Beauty: Remembering the Ashcan Artists
Happy 125th Birthday Sherlock Holmes! The Mystery of Arthur Conan Doyle
America's "First Sports Hero"
Who, Exactly, Was Edmund Fitzgerald?

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS (FICTION)

Mary Gordon's "There Your Heart Lies" (Commonweal)
Richard Ford's "Canada" (Star Ledger)
Eddie Joyce's "Small Mercies" (Commonweal)
Dennis Lehane's "Any Given Day" (Star Ledger)
Colm Toibin's "The Empty Family" (Star Ledger)
Jonathan Lethem's "Chronic City" (Star Ledger)

REVIEWS FROM AMERICA MAGAZINE (FICTION AND NON FICTION)

Roddy Doyle, Edna O'Brien, Colm Toibin and more...

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS FROM BOOKPAGE MAGAZINE (FICTION)

Richard Price, J. Courtney Sullivan, Jacqueline Woodson, and more

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS FROM BROOKLYN RAIL MAGAZINE (FICTION)

Jennifer Egan, Alex Gilvarry, and more.

MORE REVIEWS: MUNRO, DELILLO, CHABON AND MORE...

Alice McDermott: Child of My Heart (America Magazine)
Alice Munro: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (Commonweal)
Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (The World & I)
Don DeLillo: The Body Artist (Commonweal)
Jonathan Lethem: Fortress of Solitude (The World & I)
Richard Russo: The Whore's Child (The World & I)
Joseph O'Neill: Netherland (America Magazine)
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