With St. Patrick's Day (March 17) being celebrated this week, In The Past Lane takes a look at some fascinating Irish American history. 1. We start with a feature piece on why Americans in the late 19th century associated Irish immigrants with terrorism. That's right, long before 9/11, the Irish … [Read more...]
Episode 007 Irish Terrorists, Spies, and More
OP-ED Laboring Against Inequality
[Note: this op-ed was originally published in Newsweek, Sept 5, 2015] This Labor Day weekend finds the United States confronted by many troubling and contentious questions related to workers and the economy. These questions range from the minimum wage to paid family leave, from collective … [Read more...]
Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus
InThePastLane Edward T. O’Donnell We’ve all heard the expression before as a means of acknowledging skeptical surprise. Sometimes it’s the full version—“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”—and other times it’s … [Read more...]
A Historian’s Defense of “Happy Holidays”
[NB: a version of this op-ed ran in the NY Daily News and Worcester Telegram in 2011] Here we go again. If it's December then it’s officially the beginning of that annual ritual established a few years ago — the month-long explosion of outrage on talk radio and cable TV over an alleged “War … [Read more...]
White Christmas Was A War Song?
“White Christmas,” the song that first topped the charts in early December 1942, was a war song? It’s true—not in its lyrics of days that are “merry and bright,” of course, but in terms of the context that launched it to an exalted status in the annals of pop music history. In fact, the connection … [Read more...]
