The Irish in America: Long Journey Home

When John F. Kennedy became the 35th President, according to one interviewee in this epic chronicle, the "good news was that the Irish-Catholics had arrived; the bad news was that he was a Protestant from Harvard." Although we missed the opening (and some say best) episode, The Great Hunger, the remaining three volumes of this handsomely packaged 4-video set held more than a few narrative four-leaf clovers. Tracing the history of the Irish in America from the earliest immigrants, who arrived shortly after the founding of Jamestown in 1607, through Kennedy's 1960 triumph, viewers will come away with a decent general overview of the Irish experience in America, a handful of stirring stories of individuals (John L. Sullivan, John Mackay, Alfred E. Smith, and Eugene O'Neill, among others), and some fine anecdotes from notable interviewees (including Angela's Ashes' author Frank McCourt and novelist Thomas Fleming). Ironically, the series is strongest when it leans more toward biography than general history--for the simple reason that the story of the Irish is often indistinguishable from the story of European immigrants. Sure to be popular? 'Tis. Strongly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)