On History's Front Steps: One Irish Clan's Exploits in Northampton, Massachusetts, the Paradise of America, revealed in Poems, Images and Essays, 1930-2010

On History's Front Steps features sixty photos, poetry derived from those photos and five concluding essays. It is an Irish American story that runs from my dad's 1930 decision to emigrate from Ireland to America. What happened next was unique in that he became the tercentennial mayor of his adopeted city, Northampton, Massachusetts, raised six children, founded and ran a number of automotive associated businesses and made a name for himself. He befriended his political ally John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was a delegate to the 1956 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and one of only two Irish born mayors in the United States. It is a story of struggle, brief triumph and the ups and downs of the Big Three as seen through the eyes of a small town dealership. It is a tale told by his eldest son who, along with his extended family, lived in the shadow of a driven man and were carried along in his wake.

James Francis Cahillane has had a lifelong interest in reading and writing poetry. He credits the Irish folk songs played and sung by his Kerryman grandfather, Stephen, who immigrated to America after World War II. Also, his good uncle John of Dearborn, MI displayed his talents in poem after poem, showing Jim how it was done. Jim s poetry first ran in a November 1952 USS Darby newsletter. He was a 19-year-old Airman 1st class sailing to England for two air force years at RAF Fairford. Following decades in the car business, Jim sought work as a journalist, essayist, news photographer, poet and author: The Best Place of All: An Irish-American Memoir of Pluck, Luck & Automobiles. (City of Northampton: 2004). Jim s self-published book, A Winter Offering (2005), was written over decades to become a 50th anniversary present for his wife, friends and family. In December 2007 A Winter Offering won Honorable Mention in Writer s Digest Magazine s International Book Awards. The Florence Poets Society published A Winter Offering and A Second Collection (2007), which added twenty-two recent poems. On History s Front Steps defines a time and place by profiling his hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts in one family s century-long saga of immigration, business and politics in an American college community. His city of Northampton enjoys a historic reputation for inclusiveness. How this emerged over three hundred and fifty years brings power to his poetry and poignancy to the dozens of family and historical photographs. A graduate of UMass s University Without Walls, (BA 89), Jim returned to study English Literature (MA 97). Jim has studied with, and written alongside, excellent poets including Doug Anderson, Patricia Schneider and Agha Shahid Ali. He belongs to The Florence Poets Society and The New England Poetry Club. Jim and his English wife, Maureen Stone, live and garden at their country home Mole End, in the Berkshire foothills of Western Massachusetts.