Hard Times, Hard Men: Maine and the Irish, 1830-1860

Hard Times, Hard Men: Maine and the Irish, 1830-1860 by Mundy, James H.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780962638909.

This is the story of Maines pre-Civil War Irish immigrants, who came to Maine in large numbers from 1832 to the mid-fifties. They built Maines railroads and provided the raw labor for a period of rapid growth and industrialization in the late forties and early fifities. Not everyone welcomed them, and this resulted in one of the most violent periods of rioting and anti-Catholic hysteria in the states history. They would survive to become a major political and social force in Maine.