num_pages: 263
description: Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in "the best place in the world"--the Irish-American Old Colony projects of South Boston--where 85% of the residents collect welfare in an area with the highest concentration of impoverished whites in the U.S. In All Souls, MacDonald takes us deep into the secret heart of Southie. With radiant insight, he opens up a contradictory world, where residents are besieged by gangs and crime but refuse to admit any problems, remaining fiercely loyal to their community. MacDonald also introduces us to the unforgettable people who inhabit this proud neighborhood. We meet his mother, Ma MacDonald, an accordion-playing, spiked-heel-wearing, indomitable mother to all; Whitey Bulger, the lord of Southie, gangster and father figure, protector and punisher; and Michael's beloved siblings, nearly half of whom were lost forever to drugs, murder, or suicide.MacDonald’s story is ultimately one of overcoming the racist, classist ideology he was born into. It's also a searing portrayal of life in a poor, white neighborhood plagued by violence and crime and deeply in denial about it.
language: English
title: All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
titlecomplete: All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
genres: Autobiography, History, Irish Literature, Biography Memoir, Family, Biography, School, Memoir, Crime, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 12955
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: American Book Award, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Boston Author's Club Award
publisher: Ballantine Books