Rolling Up the Rug: An American Irish Story

The first volume of a three part memoir traces a family's journey from the west of Ireland to the Bronx, New York against a back drop of World War II, Irish music, the Catholic Church and Yankee Stadium. In the late 1920's the author's parents abandoned the land of their birth because in many ways, the land had abandoned them. Along with many thousands of others struggling on farms in rural Ireland, they sailed for America seeking a better life. Like the long wave of immigrants before and after them, they never completely abandoned their roots and never stopped singing their Irish songs filled with nostalgic longing for the valleys, streams and meadows of their youth. But, over a period of time, their natural Irish gregariousness found an easy fit in the hustle and bustle of city life. This is a story about a family with one foot in the old country and one foot in the 1940's and 50's of New York City. Michael Scanlon describes his early childhood as a first generation son and his family's transition from Irish American to American Irish and how life is created in America filled with possibilities, hope and ambitions.