Malachy McCourt ist ein irisch-amerikanischer Schauspieler und Schriftsteller, bekannt für seine Memoiren, die sein Leben in Irland und die anschließende Rückkehr in die Vereinigten Staaten beschreiben. Trotz begrenzter Bildung betrieb er erfolgreich eine Manhattaner Taverne, die von Prominenten frequentiert wurde. McCourt verfasste auch ein Buch über die Geschichte der irischen Ballade 'Danny Boy'. Sein Schreiben verbindet oft autobiografische Elemente mit Einblicken in die irische Kultur und Geschichte.
1952 verlässt Malachy McCourt das irische Limerick, den Ort seiner Kindheit, den Ort der Armut und der Erniedrigung. Auf der "America" bricht er nach New York auf. Der Autor erinnert sich an seine Flucht vor dem trinkenden Vater, an die Ausschweifungen in New York. Mitten im wilden Lebensrausch bemerkt er, dass er den Erinnerungen an Limerick und den Prägungen durch seine Eltern nicht entfliehen kann.
Rescue Me meets Blue Bloods in this riveting social history of the New York City Fire Department told from the perspective of the Feehan family, who served in the FDNY for four generations and counting.Seen through the eyes of four generations of a firefighter family, Five Floors Up the story of the modern New York City Fire Department. From the days just after the horse-drawn firetruck, to the devastation of the 1970s when the Bronx was Burning, to the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, to the culture-busting department of today, a Feehan has worn the shoulder patch of the FDNY. The tale shines the spotlight on the career of William M. Feehan. “Chief” Feehan is the only person to have held every rank in the FDNY including New York City’s 28th Fire Commissioner. He died in the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. But Five Floors Up is at root an intimate look at a firefighter clan, the selflessness and bravery of not only those who face the flames, but the family members who stand by their sides. Alternately humorous and harrowing, rich with anecdotes and meticulously researched and reported, Five Floors Up takes us inside a world few truly understand, documenting an era that is quickly passing us by.
Malachy McCourt grew up in Limerick amid death, squalor, poverty and abuse. When he went to America as a young man, he took with him a gargantuan appetite for what life has to offer - and an equal drive to forget what it had delivered so far. In A Monk Swimming, he caroused his way all over the world, becoming a familiar face in movies and television, and in bars from Paris to Calcutta.
From Brian McDonald, storyteller extraordinaire, comes a remarkable nonfiction graphic novel about the art of storytelling.