Books

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All books are available from the author, Collective Copies, and local bookshops:

ON HISTORY’S FRONT STEPS: One Irish Clan’s Exploits in Northampton, Massachusetts, “The Paradise of America

The Florence Poets Society announces Jim’s new book, ON HISTORY’S FRONT STEPS: One Irish Clan’s Exploits in Northampton, Massachusetts, “The Paradise of America” featuring historical photos from mid-20^th century Northampton, including tercentennial celebrations of 1954 when Jim’s Irish born dad, James Cahillane, was the city’s new mayor. The book features over fifty new poems inspired by sixty plus images, plus five essays discussing politics, sport, Irish immigration, family, and the U.S. automobile business during the period 1930-2010.

(ISBN-13 978-0-9800095-2-1).

The Best Place of All: An Irish American Memoir of Pluck, Luck & Automobiles

The Best Place of All: An Irish-American Memoir of Pluck, Luck & Automobiles (City of Northampton, 2004. ISBN: 0-9600828-4-0) details his Irish immigrant father’s unlikely American-dream story as first a champion Golden Gloves heavyweight boxer, self-made businessman and civic leader who became one of only two Irish-born mayors in the United States. Jim Sr. was elected twenty-three years following his arrival. The Best Place of All touts Mayor Jim’s political friendship with Sen. John F. Kennedy, and examines how his upset primary victory and three mayoral terms impacted his life and that of his large family. He and Imogene had six children and twenty-four grandchildren; many of them have been or are currently active in the Pioneer Valley’s civic life.

A Winter Offering and A Second Collection

Jim’s privately printed book of poems, A Winter Offering, (2005) won Honorable Mention in Writer’s Digest 2006 International Self-Published Poetry Competition.

 A Winter Offering and A Second Collection (Florence Poets Society, Florence, MA 2007. ISBN: 978-0-9800095-1-4) added twenty-two contemporary poems to the prize-winning book. His poetry has been published in a number of journals including: The South Carolina Review, The Distillery, and Ilya’s Honey, Ship of Fools, Soundings East Literary Magazine, Silkworm and Wild Leaf Press’s ‘09 anthology. WordWorth.com honored his essay, In Praise of English Pubs in June 2009.

The Pilot’s Satchel

“With great humanity and skill, Jim Cahillane explores the netherworld of coma and dreams through poetry and reminiscence. ?e Pilot’s Satchel is a deeply personal account that weaves through events both historical and intimate as it chronicles the compelling journey of the soul of a man facing his own mortality. It is a book that revels in the mysteries of who we are with faith, appreciation and love. I highly recommend it.”—Thomas Clark, AKA Tommy Twilite, co-founder of The Florence Poets Society Jim Cahillane (83) is a retired Northampton businessman, freelance writer and poet who, with his English wife, make their home in Williamsburg. Jim’s opinion columns and articles have run in the DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE, magazines, and newspapers for twenty-four years. He’s the author of five books: THE BEST PLACE OF ALL An Irish-American Memoir of Pluck, Luck and Automobiles (2004) was commissioned by Northampton’s 350th committee. A WINTER OFFERING (2005) won Honorable Mention in a Writer’s Digest International Self-published poetry competition. A WINTER OFFERING and A SECOND COLLECTION (2007) and ON HISTORY’S FRONT STEPS,(2010) were published by the Florence Poets Society. Jim contributed to THE IRISH LEGACY: A History of the Irish in Western Massachusetts (2012). His new book THE PILOT’S SATCHEL (Off The Common-2016) ventures to interpret twenty-one dreams during an induced- coma following two January 2010 colon surgeries at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Contact

Available at $18. Mail order copies cost $21 in U.S.A., to Ireland and UK $25.