Tom Hayden first realized he was Irish on the inside when he heard civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland singing We Shall Overcome in 1969. Though his great-grandparents had been forced to emigrate to the US in the 1850s, Hayden s parents erased his Irish heritage in the quest for respectability. In this passionate book he explores the losses wrought by such conformism. Assimilation, he argues, has led to high rates of schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism and domestic violence within the Irish community. Today s Irish-Americans, Hayden contends, need to re-inhabit their history, to recognize that assimilation need not entail submission. By recognising their links to others now experiencing the prejudice once directed at their ancestors, they can develop a sense of themselves that is both specific and inclusive.