{"product_id":"how-to-be-irish-isbn-9780375752360","title":"How to Be Irish","description":"Luck has nothing to do with it!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course you want to be Irish. Look what it did for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sinead, Maeve Binchy, Roddy Doyle, JFK, Seamus Heaney, Angela's Ashes, and all those Riverdancers. But until now, the secrets of how to be Irish have been hidden in a Celtic Twilight of blather and blarney.\u003cbr\u003e        \u003cbr\u003eNow this easy-to-read (with plenty o' pictures) handbook dares to tell you:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  How to have an Irish name\u003cbr\u003e  How to talk, look, and act Irish     \u003cbr\u003e  How to vote Irish  \u003cbr\u003e  How to have thin skin, a terrible temper, and the gift of gab\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhether you're proudly Irish, anti-Irish, fallen-away Irish, or would-be Irish--that is to say, if you're a living, breathing human being--How to Be Irish is for you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLearn (to your surprise) who's really Irish and who's only passing!        \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiscover (to your astonishment) your own underground Irish roots!        \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd brace yourself, Bridget, for the shocking (if brief) history of Irish-American sex!\u003cb\u003eSean Kelly\u003c\/b\u003e is umpteenth-generation Canadian-Irish. He left teaching to edit the National Lampoon. He writes for children's television (Noddy and Friends) and is co-author of several books, including Saints Preserve Us!, Who in Hell . . . , and Boom Baby Moon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRosemary Rogers\u003c\/b\u003e, who lives in Manhattan, is the co-author of Saints Preserve Us!, Who in Hell . . . , and Boomer Babes. Both of her parents were born in Ireland.THE WEARING OF THE GREENING OF AMERICA \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Sixteen percent of North Americans claim to be of Irish descent. And these days, the remaining 84 percent are green (mark you) with envy. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Because Irish is In. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Because everyone loves Riverdance. Because Angela's Ashes and How the Irish Saved Civilization topped the bestseller lists for years. Because Maeve Binchy and Roddy Doyle's hit novels become hit movies, and because Titanic, the hit movie of all time, contrasts the stultifying snobs in first class with the zesty Irish peasants below decks. Because everyone knows that Seamus Heaney is the world's greatest poet, Martin McDonagh is the world's greatest playwright, Joyce's Ulysses is the best novel of the century, U2 is the world's greatest rock band... \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e So Irish is In. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It was, of course, not always so. Like other immigrant groups since, the Irish in America were at first despised and excluded: \"No Irish Need Apply,\" said the want ads. Next, their Irish-American children were patronized or marginalized. \"What the hell do I have to do to be called an American?\" demanded Joseph Kennedy. Finally, their grandchildren were nearly eliminated by assimilation. After JFK's election, the Irish very nearly (in the words of historian Noel Ignatiev) \"became white.\" \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But now, Irish is In. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Long-closeted Hiberno-Americans are coming proudly out, while preppies, yuppies, and other WASP trendies are ransacking their family trees, desperate to uncover a Mick in the woodpile of their roots. So to speak.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And so, for both the fallen-away Irish and for everyone else who longs to be—or to appear to be—just a wee bit Irish, we offer How to Be Irish, \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER 1 \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e TYPICAL IRISH (The Choice Is Yours) \u003cbr\u003e —We are all Irish, all king's sons. \u003cbr\u003e —Alas, Stephen said. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Various character flaws, ranging from simple incompetence to cold-blooded treachery, are dismissed by the Irish themselves as \"typical Irish.\" \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But you—in order to pass for \"typical Irish\"—must first decide what Irish \"type\" you wish to pass for. Your choices have been nicely spelled out for you in the opening pages of that classic of Irish-American literature, Gone with the Wind. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Stage Irish: Scarlett, we read, has \"the easily stirred passioHs of her Irish father,\" Gerald O'Hara. A charming rogue, a natural-born rebel, and a drinking man, he is described as \"florid\" and \"bandy-legged, short nosed, wide mouthed and belligerent. . .hard headed and blustering.. .the brogue heavy on his tongue.. .with a hair trigger of temper.. .with a loud bark but no bite at all.\" Gerald has gone so far as to name his plantation Tara, after the palace of the ancient high king of Ireland. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Lace-Curtain Irish: Gerald has scant use for tRe\"\" Macintoshes, Tara's aristocratic (and possibly Abolitionist) neighbors, who are \"Scotch-Irish and Orangemen from Ulster...close-mouthed and stiff necked...dour and independent.\" \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Shanty Irish: The nearby tenant-farming Slatterys are dismissed even by the O'Hara's slaves as \"white trash.\" He is \"shiftless and whining,\" she \"the snarly-haired mother to a brood of sullen and rabbity-looking children which increased every year.\" \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e So, sir or madam, which will it be for you? Stage, LaceCurtain, or Shanty Irish? \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Now, it may be argued that surely there are other sorts of Irish. Unfortunately, this is not so, or is no longer so. Read on.","brand":"Villard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301841785061,"sku":"NP9780375752360","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375752360.jpg?v=1767729373","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/how-to-be-irish-isbn-9780375752360","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}