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This Side of Paradise: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Judge Cohalan, and the Irish Revolution

During the socially turbulent and unusually sweltering summer of 1919, the 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald reworked This Side of Paradise, the novel that turns him into an overnight sensation and launches the Jazz Age. He writes that Amory Blaine, his self-modelled protagonist, suspects that being Irish is being “somewhat common.” The novel marks another turning point in Fitzgerald's conflicted, fascinating and haunted relationship with his Irish heritage. In the novel, Blaine attacks the very real life Daniel F. Cohalan, the powerful justice of the supreme court of New York and Irish-American leader, for the “rancid accusations” he exchanges with Edward Carson, the Ulster Unionist, in defending Ameria's right to intervene on behalf of Ireland. Patrick explores Fitzgerald's complicated relationship with his ethnicity, his reasons for referencing Cohalan, as well as the latter’s remarkable, and largely airbrushed, contribution to the Irish revolution.

Patrick O' Sullivan Greene published Crowdfunding the Revolution: The First Dáil Loan and the Battle for Irish Independence in 2020. Critically well-received, President Michael D. Higgins invited Patrick to Áras an Uachtaráin to present the book to him. The book was reviewed by Paschal Donohoe, Irish Minister for Finance in History Ireland: “The quality of writing and the pace of storytelling ensure that this is not a niche or specialist work of history. This is a compelling read. I wish I had written it myself.” His second book, Revolution at the Waldorf: America and the Irish War of Independence, challenges much of the myth-making surrounding the Irish mission to America seeking recognition and funding for the counter-state government. Patrick is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has worked in business and finance for most of his career.

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August 5

Embracing Emancipation: A Transatlantic History of Irish Americans, Slavery, and the American Union, 1840-1865