Molly Malone & the San Patricios

Rating:
Summary: Simply the BEST war novel of this period.
Review: Few writers have ever had a more intense identification with the San Patricios than Michael Hogan. (San Patricios was the name given to the Irish soldiers who deserted to fight for Mexico in the Mexican-American War. Hogan, an Irish-American who has long lived in Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish, is currently head of the English and Humanities Departments at Guadalajara's American School. The author of twelve books, he was also historical consultant on the set of "One Man's Hero," an MGM picture starring Tom Berenger and Daniela Romo which presents a fictional episode in the history of the San Patricios. "Molly Malone and the San Patricios" does double duty as a robust action novel and a work of historical revisionism. (Though named after that famed dispenser of cockles and mussels, "Molly Malone" is an Indian dog that has attached itself to the Irish battalion.) Since some of the soldiers who deserted to fight for Mexico were U.S. citizens (others were immigrants who joined the Army because of anti-Irish discrimination in civilian life), media organs of the day were almost unanimous in branding them as traitors. In a sober and compelling analysis, Hogan shows how the treatment they received would hardly induce them to become superpatriots a la George M. Cohen, an Irish-American lucky enough to come after anti-Hibernian prejudice had evaporated. The earlier newcomers daily encountered signs reading "No Irish need apply!" and, after joining the Army, were even denied Catholic chaplains. Hogan's historical work, published in 1997, was titled "The Irish Soldiers of Mexico." His novel follows the outline of the nonfiction book but also has an early section that proceeds events in Mexico. The protagonist is a 16-year-old "greenhorn" right off the boat who encounters both torment and ecstasy in the life of a newly arrived immigrant. He is beaten up by bigots in a bar but then employed by a rich farmer whose nubile daughter is instantly attracted to him. Though the farmer is well-intentioned, his benevolence does not extend to sanctioning a romantic laison between his dughter and a penniless Catholic immigrant. This leads to a chain of events that culminate in Kevin being shanghaied into the army and shipped off to the Mexican border on the eve of President Polk's "Manifest Destiny" invasion of Mexico. The rest is known. Kevin and his comrades desert and form an artillery battalion that distinguishes itself in some of the war's most sanguinary battles. Using an E.L. Doctorow approach, Hogan deftly blends fictional and historical figures in the novel. Lee and Grant make cameo appearances, as does Henry Clay Jr., who dies in a war that his father strenuously opposes. Hogan offers up some marvellous touches of humor. No historical figure was more vainglorious than the Mexican commander Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Photography had recently been invented and the Irish soldiers quipped that Santa Anna would rush out of his tent in full uniform whenever lightning flashed: he thought God wanted to take his picture. A more somber episode--and one that touches intimately on the area of ethnic stereotyping--involves an agonizing decision that the Irish survivors had to make when the war ended and they were in captvity. A lieutenant named Martin Lyndon had been a barrister in his native Galway before economic circumstances forced him to emigrate. A realistic man, a born survivor, he addresses his comrades in their cell: "I'm going to suggest that we plead the defense of drunkenness at our trials. Drunkenness as an excuse for desertion. Let me tell you why." Lyndon goes on to explain tht drunkenness has traditionally been considered a mitigating factor in courts-martial and such a plea would be bound to reduce penalties they might suffer--shorter terms of imprisonment or, at worst, the honor of a firing squad rather than hanging. Though some soldiers buy Lyndon's argument, a young idealist like Dillon is repelled by what he considers a disgraceful copout. "They had deserted an invading army for the noblest reasons," writes Hogan. "They had fought for a cause they believed in, under a banner which represented their faith and ideals. They had shown courage and honor in battle and now they were about to negate it all by declaring that they were simply a bunch of drunks." While some of his comrades make this devils's bargain, Kevin Dillon goes to death on the scaffold. --Reviewed by Jim Tuck Guadalajara Colony Reporter

Rating:
Summary: Exciting tale of a young man caught up war.
Review: We Follow Kevin Dillon through his innocent and optimistic youth in Boston, into a racist cauldron, to his rescue and thence to a love affair with a proverbial farmer's daughter, and then into the U.S. Army in Texas. Michael Hogan has written an interesting, thoughtful, and exciting tale based on historical facts. Kevin's experience in Mexico are at once exciting and tragic. A novel well worth the read.