The Irish Face in America

This colorful, straightforward photo tour, co-sponsored by Kodak, Guinness and Irish Radio host John Dearie, offers 100 full-page spreads with a picture of an Irish American on the left-hand page and a brief first-person narrative about his or her life on the right.""Their faces tell us, in some mysterious way, that they are all part of the same tribe,"" writes New York Daily News columnist Hamill. But their words reveal a variety of experiences: Karen Duffy, ex-model and MTV VJ, reflects on being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare incurable disease that attacks the central nervous system; Chicago mayor Richard Daley champions the inclusiveness of Irish politicians, which he says comes as a direct result of the discrimination that the first Irish immigrants faced in America; and Bill O'Donnell, a California priest, recalls being arrested 243 times in his work as an activist. Among a handful of longer essays is Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark's look at""The Everlasting Importance of Family."" Spirited and pleasantly self-congratulatory, this volume should find its place on the coffee tables of dedicated Hybernophiles.