American Outsider: Stories from the Irish Traveller Diaspora

Of all of the world’s countries, America is the one that we all think we know. World globalization and the dominance of English language and American idiom makes us secure in our knowledge of what the United States is and who her people are. This book jettisons all such pre-conceptions. It affords a window on the American experience that eschews many of the hackneyed representations of old. It throws back the curtains on the hidden lives of a people who quietly live along the dusty weave of a Mid-West highway. Small towns, woods and wayside stops. Like passengers in the rear of the truck, we are brought on a journey of life as it is lived for the quintessential people of the road the Irish American Pavees (Travellers). This book is a small glimpse of a distinct culture, language and a way of life. As bravely-written as it is unique, this is the story of a people who have lived in the shadows of rumour, hearsay and a hot summer sun. Strange, yet familiar. These are the shy migrants of the nameless road.