By the 1840s, America was the oasis that the Irish sought during a decade of both famine and revolution, and New York City was the main destination. Taking a look at how Irish immigrants transformed the city, and indeed, the nation, this history introduces Archbishop "Dagger" John Hughes, who built an Irish-Catholic infrastructure of churches, schools, hospitals, and orphanages; General Thomas Francis Meagher, a favorite of Lincoln's favorite Irish war general; and women's rights activist Margaret Sanger. Along with a profusion of politicians and labor leaders, here are movie tough guy James Cagney, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and such Irish-American writers as Eugene O'Neill, Marianne Moore, Pete Hamill, and Frank McCourt.