caribbean, and then he was sent to tasmania, and he had terrible asthma. meagher was the great orator during the rebel times, mitchell was the great writer. so it was a one-two punch. mitchell would write in the newspaper, meagher would give speeches in front of thousands of people. they were very close. mitchell finally comes to america as well, but he likes slavery. something happens in him that he sees slavery as not a bad thing. he writes in his own newspaper that if you irishmen are coming to america looking for a start, get yourself a couple of slaves and come south. and so meagher and he, his other people, break with mitchell. mitchell has three boys. two of them were on the other side of that wall when the irish stormed mary s heights. so there was not a technical irish brigade in the confederacy, but there certainly were irish who fought on the other side, including the very people who were the kids of his best friends. also i have a scene in the book where they figh
it s not going well. the union is losing. they start a draft this 1863, but you want to talk about inequality? in that draft you could buy your way out for $200. so the rich never served the union cause unless they were noble, unless they had a higher calling. for $200 you could get out of the draft, or you could present a live person. so if i brought you in and said, bruce, you re going to take my place, i wouldn t have to serve. i would have paid you to be my body. this really ticked off the irish. they could not pay for this. and as they rolled the barrel in the first draft in american history, the names that came out were heir began, o malley, you know, all these irish names. and so they rioted. i will not ever excuse the riot. it was the darkest point in irish-american history. they strung up african-americans, they burned down buildings, they nearly destroyed new york. they would have killed mara because he stuck to the union til the very end had he not been in washingt
beauty from old line, wasp money, meagher is a fugitive. he writes this beautiful love letter to her where he asks her her hand for her hand in marriage, and he goes, i am here alone, i am a homeless exile, i have nobody, i have no family. i m wanted by the british empire, you know? i m nothing, but the greatest thing in my life was to find you. and if you will take me as your husband, i will share everything with you. take my past, take my heritage, let us join our lives together it s a beautiful letter. and so she gives up everything to marry this irish rebel. her father promptly disowns her. she ends up living the rest of her life on a $50-a-month civil war widow s pension, but they were like this. she nursed his wound. women, i didn t know this, but women could come down to the camps. he was knocked from his horse twice, he had this horrible abscess on his knee, and also his confidence was shattered. he had lost so many people who were so close to him, people he had p
author timothy eagan. this is live coverage of the tucson book festival. good morning, welcome, i m going to be moderating this conversation this morning with timothy eagan. i want to expand thanks to c-span tv and book tv for sponsoring and will last approximately one hour, including questions and answers till the end of the panel immediately following the session tim will be autographing books at the bookstore, that s 153 by the university bookstores . because you re enjoying the festival and i m sure you all are, please consider joining the festival of the tucson festival of books. so become a friend by visiting the student union ballroom or go into our website. out of respect for the author, please turn off your cell phones, now, if you would. this morning it s our pleasure to have timothy eagan. the worst hard time and the national best seller the big burn. tim s current book just released last week is entitled to immore eat irishman who became an american hero, a biog
please consider joining the friends of the tucsonoi festival of books. your tax-deductibleyour tax-deductible contribution allows us to offer festival programming free of charge to the public and support critical literacy programs in the community. out of respect for the author, please turn off your cell phones. this morning it is our pleasure to have with us timothy egan, pulitzer prize-winning new york times columnist and author of seven books including the national book award-winning worst hard time. the national bestseller the big burn. tim s current boat just released last week is entitled the immortal irishman, the irish revolutionary you became an american hero and biography of thomas mark. i would like to begin by asking tim, may not be a household word, but there was a time when his name was a household word, both here and in ireland, but he has sadly been largely forgotten crowd, thank you. it is great to be here in this lovely arizona morning, huge crowd, can t b