Real Lace Revisited : Inside the Hidden World of America’s Irish Aristocracy

"Here is a revisitation--part tribute, part update--of Stephen Birmingham's beloved Real Lace. James P. MacGuire, a member of one of Birmingham's Irish families, creates his own entertaining portrait of life among the Irish rich, further detailing and filling out this engrossing portion of America's social history"--Provided by publisher.;Preface: In praise of Stephen Birmingham -- Foreword: The real first Irish family -- McDonnell & Co. : the aftermath -- The rise of the wealthy Irish Catholics -- WASPs, Jews and the Irish -- Southward and westward -- Faith of our fathers (and mothers) -- Profile: Portsmouth Priory : the early years -- From counting houses to carryout -- Profile: Tom Monaghan and Domino's Pizza -- High (and low) society -- Profile: Watering holes : Saratoga, Southampton, Newport -- Sport -- Profile: The Maras and Rooneys : from racing to pro football -- In the public arena -- Profile: The Kennedys and the Buckleys -- Vatican II : an age of anxiety -- The 1960s : high-water mark -- Profile: Portsmouth again : from priory to abbey -- Gratitude -- Profile: Peter Flanigan and student sponsor partners -- Assimilation : leaving the ghetto -- Decay and falling away -- Epilogue: Endings and new beginnings. Here is a revisitation--part tribute, part update--of Stephen Birmingham's much-loved Real Lace. James P. MacGuire, a member of one of Birmingham's Irish Families, creates his own entertaining portrait of life among the Irish Rich, further detailing and filling out this engrossing portion of America's social history. Real Lace Revisited chronicles the religious, financial and social evolution of the First Irish Families’ world, its rise, peak, decline, fall, and, in some cases, transformative rebirth. Rather than a memoir, however, the book reads as an informed historical, non-fiction account of the upper-class Irish world as it grew and changed. Real Lace Revisited is always accessible and highly readable, enlivened by MacGuire’s gift for storytelling, encyclopedic knowledge, and often humorous insight into the families concerned.