All Souls

[A] rare and compelling book … Highly passionate.—Liam Ford, Chicago Tribune

“His anecdotes have the searing power of a redeemed sinner’s fiery sermon. His swift, conversational style sweeps you into his anger and sorrow. He is a born rabble-rouser whose emotional power numbs the reader’s reason.“—Charles Carberry, USA Today

”All Souls is a memoir filled with desperation and despair, but there is also hope in it … MacDonald’s discovery of his vocation in neighborhood activism is a refreshing change from most memoirs, which so often … are largely concerned with describing an ascent to celebrityhood.” —Julian Moynahan, New York Review of Books

“Michael Patrick MacDonald takes us on a heartbreaking tour of his South Boston family.” —Frank McCourt, Irish America Magazine

“An incendiary, moving book that startles on nearly every page … MacDonald’s nimble prose and detailed recall of grim times long past make for luminous reading; his hard-won conception of how ghettoized poverty spawns localized violence, and the dignity he brings to lives snuffed out in chaos, gives All Souls a moral urgency usually lacking in current memoir or crime prose. A remarkable work.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“All Souls leavens tragedy with dashes of humor but preserves the heartbreaking details.“—Brent Staples, New York Times Book Review

“If you were charmed by Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes but wished at times the author would have got out of the way of his own beguiling style, try All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, Michael Patrick MacDonald’s guileless and powerful memoir of precarious life and early death in Boston’s Irish ghetto.“—R. Z. Sheppard, Time

“A must read … All Souls is poised to become one of the most significant Irish American books of the era.“—Irish Edition

“Time may take away a lot of things, but it can’t take away our stories. Twenty-five years ago Michael Patrick MacDonald wrote one for the ages. All Souls is a book that you will carry everywhere, most especially in that eternal rag and bone shop of the heart.”
—Colum McCann, author of American Mother

“This extraordinary book is so many things at once. A tender, shocking yet at times hilarious account of a beleaguered family and community; a scorching indictment of the forces that conspired against them; an elegy to lost brothers; a rallying call to hope. It is hands down the best memoir I have ever read.”
—Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses

“An honest, piercing tale—once you read it, you will never look at our country the same way.”
—Geoffrey Canada, author of Fist Stick Knife Gun

“MacDonald has a gift for narrative, an eye for social detail, and a voice of earned authenticity.”
—Jack Beatty, Author of The Rascal

Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in South Boston’s Old Colony housing project. After losing four siblings and witnessing his generation ravaged by poverty, crime, and addiction, he became a prominent Boston activist. He helped spearhead numerous anti-violence initiatives, including gun-buyback programs, and continues to advocate for social change nationwide by working with survivor families and young people.

MacDonald received the American Book Award in 2000 and has contributed numerous essays to the Boston Globe Op-Ed Page. His national bestseller, All Souls, and his subsequent memoir, Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion, have been incorporated into university curricula across the United States.

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