Irish in Michigan. "Discovering the Peoples of Michigan" series by Seamus P. Metress, Eileen K. Metress

Abstract

126 MichiganHistoricalReview Seamus P. Metress and Eileen K. Metress. Irish in Michigan. "Discovering the Peoples ofMichigan" series. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2006. Pp. 92. Appendices. For further reference. Illustrations. Index. Paper, $11.95. "Discovering the Peoples ofMichigan" is a series of short books intended to introduce nonacademic readers to the state's ethnic contributors. Irish in Michigan, which was written by an anthropologist and a professor of public health, delineates patterns of Irish setdement and argues the case for cultural persistence, particularly in terms of Irish republicanism. Chapter one outlines five periods of Irish immigration toAmerica since 1640 and makes brief references to places where persons from Ireland settled in Michigan. The second chapter, on Detroit, is especially useful in its discussion of how the Irish faced far less anti-Catholicism than their East Coast counterparts due to the earlier French Catholic setdement of that area. Chapter three covers Gaelic-speaking immigrants on Beaver Island, and the Irish of theUpper Peninsula and eastern and western Michigan. This chapter is most useful when the authors rely on secondary sources, such as studies of Irish copper miners by William Mulligan and Timothy O'Neil. Genealogists, however, might also appreciate the biographical details drawn from booster publications. Those interested in Protestant Irish ancestors will find little here about them, because, the authors maintain, they either assimilated or belonged to the "English landlord class" (p. 31). Thus, they were not really Irish. The book's final chapter focuses on the maintenance of Irish identity in a time when many Irish people are moving out of Irish neighborhoods. This section often conflates Irish republican activism with ethnicity and insists upon cultural persistence without much evidence. A discussion of Irish organizations and how many people belong to them, particularly in relation to how many people in Michigan claim Irish ancestry,would have been useful. Readers should be aware of thevolume's unusually heavy-handed Irish republican slant. The Metresses are entitled to their political views, but extreme republican politics are reflected throughout the book, as in references not toNorthern Ireland (a name deliberately omitted) but to "the sixnortheastern counties stillunder British occupation" (p. 10). Readers are also informed that the Irish Civil War (1922-1923) was "fought over partition" (p. 10). That is not true. Although die-hard republicans remember itotherwise, Irish republicans divided over whether to swear an oath of allegiance to theBritish king. The Metresses also claim that 1.5 to BookReviews127 2million people died in the Irish potato famine. The best estimate, by Joel Mokyr, is that 1,082,000 to 1,498,000 perished between 1846 and 1851. For thatmatter the authors assert that "a strong case can be made" that the famine was "opportunistic genocide" perpetrated by "English overlords" who exported Irish food to England (p. 7). Cormac 6 Grada, James S. Donnelly, Jr., and Mary E. Daly have long since challenged this nationalist interpretation. The Metresses should have acknowledged the debate over this question of genocide. Educators or those unfamiliar with Irish nationalism might keep these concerns inmind. Catherine M. Burns University ofWisconsin, Madison Joseph L. Peyser and Jose Antonio Brandao, eds. Edge of Empire: Documents ofMichi/imackinac, 1671-1716. Translated by Joseph L. Peyser. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press for theMackinac Island State Park Commission, 2008. Pp. 192.Appendices. Bibliography. Index. Maps. Notes. Cloth, $39.95. Although Jose Antonio Brandao and the late Joseph L. Peyser tided their compilation of Michilimackinac-related documents Edge of Empire, their volume makes clear that the post was central to the survival of New France. The usefully annotated documents in the editors' collection highlight the innerworkings of the fur trade in the pays d'en haut, or "Upper Country," and provide a rare glimpse into everyday life in a far-flung outpost of France's transatiantic empire. The French established Michilimackinac in the heart of Ottawa territory to protect the valuable beaver-pelt trade and to support the missionary efforts of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The documents in this book illustrate the first decades of this vital post's existence. One document, a "Statement of Expenditures" compiled by Michilimackinac's commander, underscores the post's value to New France...