Brass, Jane Byrne and the pursuit of power [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. DESPITE tasteful invitations, thirty pounds of jumbo shrimp, and a popular jazz band, the pre-primary fund raiser for mayoral candidate Jane Byrne was a disaster. More than 500 guests were expected at the suburban Lake Forest mansion. Fewer than 20 came. Among the guests was Kathleen Whalen FitzGerald who would later write Brass, an interpretive biography and careful examination of the forces that shaped Jane Burke Byrne. What were those forces? There was the very private Burke family, the community expectations of Irish-American Catholic womanhood, the abrupt death of Jane's husband, and power - elusive, attractive, life-enhancing power. Power is the thread that weaves in and out of this book. Power and powerlessness, the ultimate contrast, more stark than black and white, more important than rich or poor. Jane Byrne knew the modest power of affluence, the significant power of the Church, and the love of power of the Irish. FitzGerald was writing a doctoral dissertation on power and the Catholic Church when she met Byrne. She saw things in Byrne which other writers might overlook - especially those characteristics of being Irish-American and Catholic and a woman - all refracted in the very prism of power. FitzGerald writes gracefully and thoughtfully in this very readable book.

Brass, Jane Byrne and the pursuit of power, Used [Hardcover]