Mysteries of My Father
"Thomas Fleming gives us an unforgettable story about an immigrant family--his family--as it struggles to find a place in the American century. He shares with us the dreams and heartaches of his parents, and, in the end, he reminds us of the mysterious and forgiving power of love." --Terry Golway, author of The Irish in America
In Mysteries of My Father, watch Teddy Flemming rise in Frank Hague's bare-knuckled Irish-American political machine, which dominated Jersey City and the state of New Jersey for thirty-two years. Thomas Flemming tells both the public and the private stories--such as his parents' violent quarrels, his mother's shame at being Irish, and her embittered attempts to make her son an antagonist against the man she publicly admired and privately disdained.
Again and again, the son found himself baffled by his discoveries about his father, including the heartbreaking poem "My Buddy" that this tough laconic man hung on his bedroom wall and "The Guy in the Glass," hidden in his bureau drawer, about how every man "in his struggle for self" must somehow keep his self-respect. At the heart of the drama is a riveting cry that the sixteen-year-old son elicited from Teddy Fleming when he said he did not love him: "You and your brother. You're all I've got."
From Ireland's County Mayo to Jersey City's City Hall, Fleming's gripping narrative encapsulated the pride and pain of being Irish in the first decades of the twentieth century. More than a history of the Irish in America, more than a family saga, Mysteries of My Father opens your heart to a son's struggle to survive and ultimately heal his wounds through hard-won understanding and love.
We earn a commission for purchases made through the following links.
Book details
- Author
- Thomas Fleming
- Imprint
- Trade Paper Press, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Hardcover, Paperback
- Subjects
- History
- Topics
- Irish-American memoir · immigrant families · New Jersey politics · political machines · family history · father-son relationships · immigrant experience
- ISBN-13
- 9781630269203 (Hardcover)9781630269197 (Paperback)
About the author
THOMAS FLEMING was an American historian and historical novelist who wrote more than forty works of fiction and nonfiction, with a particular focus on the American Revolution.
Fleming served as president of the Society of American Historians and the PEN American Center. He received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Fordham University in 1950, and his history of West Point was praised by the New York Times as the best ever written. He wrote frequently for American Heritage and appeared regularly on C-SPAN, PBS, and the History Channel.
Fleming was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and became a full-time writer in 1960. He lived in New York City with his wife, Alice Fleming.