Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics

Terry Golway

Noted author, journalist and academic scholar Terry Golway has steadily built up a lasting literature on the Irish perspective and role in American history and politics. He is especially animated and astute when discussing his beloved New York, a topic immense and unwieldy like the city itself. Golway’s latest book, Machine Made, offers an engaging, insightful portrait of Tammany Hall, not as a den of iniquity and corruption, but as an ally to the immigrant classes pouring into New York City. Tammany helped the Irish, along with Italians, Jews and other newcomers, “feel like New Yorkers – and Americans,” giving them a sense of participation and connection that is missing today.

Liveright Publishing / W.W. Norton & Company / 372 pages / $27.95 cloth / March 2014