Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yay St. Patrick’s Day! I’m making corned beef, donning something green, and hopping on the T to catch Southie’s St. Patrick’s Day parade (Sunday morning). When in Boston, do as the Bostonians do. And Bostonians flock en masse to South Boston to celebrate their heritage every March. I went last year and am happy to report it is pretty awesome. Southie is experiencing gentrification and all of the issues that come with it, but overall, the parade seemed like a good mix of young revelers and old school Aran sweater-clad, baby buggy pushing life-ers. Here are two books I’ve recently read in which Southie plays a main character:

Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, 2001

Written by the two Boston Globe reporters who unraveled this story, Black Mass describes one of the biggest cases of known FBI corruption. It almost seemed to good to be true when John Connolly, a neighborhood kid from Southie turned FBI agent, lined up the ultimate informant, the infamous Whitey Bulger, an Irish mob kingpin from South Boston of the Winter Hill gang. However, their informant relationship quickly spirals out of control leaving the reader wondering who really holds the upper hand. You'll be shocked at Bulger's ability to manipulate Connolly into guaranteeing his protection while murdering, drug trafficking, and generally wreaking terror all over Boston during the late 80's and early 90's. And you'll be equally shocked how easily Connolly folds and almost worships Whitey, the "king" of South Boston. If you've been following Boston news, Whitey was arrested last year in Santa Monica after spending 16 years in hiding (and many of those years on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list). He awaits trial that should start late this year.

All Souls: A Family Story from Southie by Michael Patrick MacDonald, 1999
 
Meanwhile, deep in the heart of the South Boston projects, Michael Patrick MacDonald grows up in the 70's and 80's living the neighborhood realities of bussing, rampant drub abuse, violence, and suicide all while worshipping the neighborhood’s hero, Mr. Bulger himself. Michael and his family hold fast to two beliefs:
1. Southie is the best place on Earth.
2. There is nothing worse than a rat. 
Read on as MacDonald's illusions of his neighborhood dissolve and the realities of Southie's problems land on his doorstep. Written by a neighborhood native, MacDonald  tells a frank story that is at moments both heartbreaking and hopeful.

Erin go Bragh!
*Thanks for the pictures BarnesandNoble.com!