Immigrants' Son

A Memoir and Essay

by Richard O'Prey


Formats

Softcover
£15.28
£11.75
Softcover
£11.75

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 16/05/2002

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 6x9
Page Count : 356
ISBN : 9780759696570

About the Book

Immigrants' Son is a labor of love about a time, a place, a people, and a mentality that is no more. The facts lie on dusty shelves in unread books or in the fading faltering memories of those who witnessed the unique experience of Washington Heights. From the sectarian oppression of Northern Ireland to the rock-strewn farms of Connaught, the author notes the blessings of America upon the Irish Immigrants. Furthermore, infused with pride in lrish-Catholicism but unaware of its insularity at the time, he writes of the tiny "Emerald Isle" adrift in a vast sea of Jews and other Ethnics in Washington Heights, The interplay between the groups stirs conflicting opinions and startling judgments.

Immigrants' Son is as much essay as memoir. It reads more like an oral anthology than a historical chronicle. The author's descriptions are appealing, his analogies debatable, his digressions amusing, his interpretations informative, and his conclusions open to challenge. Blending humor with the lessons of his personal experience, O'Prey offers a narrative that readers should find fascinating and provocative.


About the Author

Richard O'Prey was born and raised in Washington Heights in New York City. He attended parochial schools and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from The Catholic University of America with a BA in American History. He was awarded his masters degree in Modern European History by Manhattan College and continued working toward a doctoral degree in American Social History at New York University.

For fifteen years he lived as a Brother of the Christian Schools and taught at parish schools in the South Bronx for eight years. In 1970, he left the religious order and continued as a professional, public educator of the emotionally challenged for another twenty-nine years.

In 1972, Richard married Mary Burke and together raised three children, Brendan, now twenty-eight, Katherine, twenty-seven, and Maureen, twenty-five. The family lived in West Nyack before moving to Stony Point, New York. In 1999, Richard and Mary retired, sold their home and moved to Cape Cod. Inspired by a diary discovered only after his father's death, Richard resolved to follow the urging of his wife and children and leave them a written account of his early years. Immigrants' Son is the product of that quest and the leisure time retirement brought!