James R. Barrett: The Irish Way

James R. Barrett is a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently scholar in residence at The Newberry Library. Professor Barrett’s research interests include immigration and race and ethnicity in US cities. He is also the author of “The Irish Way”, a book of “social history” that examines “how the Irish took up positions of urban leadership in the late 19th century” and “how they had to adapt to growing numbers of other immigrants in the early 20th century”. 

In the third episode of “The Last Hurrah”, Liam and Scott sit down with Professor James R. Barrett to discuss why Irish Americans became so successful politically, why they were drawn towards the Democratic Party and why Irish American political power began to diminish in the first half of the 20th century.