The Sons of Molly Maguire
The Irish Roots of America's First Labor War
by Mark Bulik
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Pub Date Jan 01 2015 | Archive Date Jan 15 2015
Description
Sensational tales of true-life crime, the devastation of the Irish potato famine, the upheaval of the Civil War, and the turbulent emergence of the American labor movement are connected in a captivating exploration of the roots of the Molly Maguires. A secret society of peasant assassins in Ireland that re-emerged in Pennsylvania's hard-coal region, the Mollies organized strikes, murdered mine bosses, and fought the Civil War draft. Their shadowy twelve-year duel with all powerful coal companies marked the beginning of class warfare in America. But little has been written about the origins of this struggle and the folk culture that informed everything about the Mollies.
A rare book about the birth of the secret society, The Sons of Molly Maguire delves into the lost world of peasant Ireland to uncover the astonishing links between the folk justice of the Mollies and the folk drama of the Mummers, who performed a holiday play that always ended in a mock killing. The link not only explains much about Ireland's Molly Maguires where the name came from, why the killers wore women's clothing, why they struck around holidays but also sheds new light on the Mollies' re-emergence in Pennsylvania.
The book follows the Irish to the anthracite region, which was transformed into another Ulster by ethnic, religious, political, and economic conflicts. It charts the rise there of an Irish secret society and a particularly political form of Mummery just before the Civil War, shows why Molly violence was resurrected amid wartime strikes and conscription, and explores how the cradle of the American Mollies became a bastion of later labor activism. Combining sweeping history with an intensely local focus, The Sons of Molly Maguire is the captivating story of when, where, how, and why the first of America's labor wars began.
Advance Praise
"With
deft writing and impressive research, Mark Bulik offers a new explanation for a
conflict that shook the very foundations of post-Civil War America. The Molly
Maguires were at the center of America’s first great labor war, but as Bulik
shows, the first shots of that war were fired not in northeastern Pennsylvania,
but in the fields and villages of Ireland."—Terry Golway, author of
Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics
"Mark Bulik’s The Sons of Molly Maguire is an engaging and enlightening
work of historical research and scholarship. As well as bring into focus the
Mollies’ role in giving America its first taste of class warfare, Bulik’s
incisive and original explorations sweep aside myths, legends, half-truths, and
untruths. He significantly deepens our understanding of these flesh-and blood
laborers, who they were, where they came from, and how their struggle resonated
through the labor movement in the United States. Thoughtful, insightful and
unfailing fair, The Sons of the Molly Maguires is history at its
best."—Peter Quinn, author of Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish
America
“Mark
Bulik’s The Sons of Molly Maguire is a superb work of scholarship. Focused on
origins, this work situates the Irish emergence and American persistence of the
Molly Maguires in all of their considerable complexity, while likewise ably
revealing not only the crucial developments of the 1870s that have embedded the
Mollies in American memory but also the factors contributing to the Mollies’
continuing legacy extending into the present.”—James P. Leary, University of
Wisconsin
“Bulik’s work is the rare combination of meticulous research and a story well
told. Many works tackle the enigma of the Molly Maguires but few pay as close
attention to their Irish historical and cultural roots. This is a richly
contextual study that expands our understanding of a complicated
subject.”—Robert M. Sandow, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780823262236 |
| PRICE | $39.95 (USD) |
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Average rating from 17 members
Featured Reviews
Mandy J, Reviewer
This is a wonderful piece of sustained historical and academic research, very detailed, full of drama and human interest, a fascinating examination of a little known period of American history. However, I have to admit that I found it a little too detailed. Nothing wrong with the writing, just that it gave me more information than I really needed. I don’t think I’m the intended audience for this one; it is more a book for the serious historian or academic. So while I could appreciate its merits I did find myself skipping quite a bit. As the title tells us, it’s the story of the Molly Maguires, a group of Irish miners in Pennsylvania and an examination of the labour unrest at the heart of the movement. For anyone interested in Irish and American labour history, it’s a must-read – but be prepared to invest a lot of time and energy to it.
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