Fifteen years after the author signed it, I finally finished The Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley (1874-1958); An Epic of Urban Politics and Irish America. Read a little on Google Books if the topic interests you.
The author, Jack Beatty, was a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly during my time there. This was his first book. Every employee got a copy, and Jack was kind enough to sign it, even though I was then a part-timer, working on special advertising sections. For that note of kindness, I’ve kept this book on my “to read” pile for much longer than any dim interest in Boston’s political history would have done.
Still, the biography is a good one, about topics I knew very little about: Boston’s political history, the rise of the Irish politician, and Curley himself. Five times Mayor of Boston, once Governor of Massachusetts, and even a US Congressman, Curley abused the system. But his personal charisma, energy and exploitation of politics which can only be called tribal were enough to make him larger than life. I haven’t read or seen The Last Hurrah, which in its re-telling of Curley’s tale made his flaws and triumphs legendary. Curley did cross paths with every notable politician from Roosevelt to Kennedy, though being indicted twice never really helped his aspirations to rise beyond Massachusetts. 😉