Word: irishness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There is no nation in the world that the American people value more highly than Britain; none to which they feel deeper personal and moral kinship; none for which they would sacrifice more, including their lives; and none on which they so depend for precisely the same attitude. Many Irish Americans understandably don't feel this way, of course, and Hispanics and other minorities may regard the sceptered isle with vast indifference. But on the whole, affection for the Crown is intense here. This may seem odd, given America's origins, but it is so nonetheless...
...that the fight against inflation was its No. 1 priority. In addition, the Federal Reserve has maintained a reasonably firm, although often unpopular, control over the growth of money. That has kept interest rates high but helped bring down inflation. Finally, Reagan has enjoyed a little luck of the Irish, as world commodity prices, especially oil prices, dropped sharply...
...first, and still probably his best. The Friends of Eddie Coyle, it was auto theft, in the 1981 model. The Rat on Fire, it was arson for profit: in The Patriot Game, it is gun-running for profit and the greater glory of the provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army. But whatever the crime of choice the novel is usually only an excuse to let the Higgins people talk...
...That's not what bothers me [say one fellow]. It's not that he's Irish, He isn't Irish Oh, he's got an Irish name, which I presume he inherited from his father. Although there are reports that his mother wasn't really sure who it was that was responsible for the sad event and took the easy way out by blaming the disaster on the last drunken longshoreman who paid a quarter to have his way with her down at the pier in Chelsea one night when she got lucky and went home with a grand total...
...Higgins doesn't try something a little more ambitious now that he has buffed the Boston low-life novel to such a perfect shine. The Patriot Game, in fact, would have been an excellent opportunity, because in it he touches on--but ultimately skirts--the issues of the American Irish feelings for their embattled brethren overseas. Jimmy Breslin, also a member in good-standing of the tough-guy school, made such an attempt in World Without End, Amen. Higgins implies that these Irishmen are not running guns just to make money, but he resists any exploration of that rich vein...