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Easter Rising

A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion

Author: Michael Patrick MacDonald Foreword by: Ken Casey

“Whether you grew up in South Boston, Belfast, Brooklyn, or somewhere else entirely, you’ll recognize something familiar in his search for identity, purpose, belonging, and home.”—Ken Casey of The Dropkick Murphys, from the foreword

In All Souls, Michael Patrick MacDonald chronicled a heartbreaking saga of familial loss amid Irish South Boston’s culture of silence. In Easter Rising, he tells the story of how he managed to survive it.

As the quiet outlier in a big Irish Catholic family, MacDonald set himself apart from both his siblings and his peers, swapping drugs and alcohol for a thrilling new genre of music: punk rock.

Amid the underground music scene of Boston in the 1970s, he encounters pivotal figures including Johnny Rotten and the Clash, and rides the wave to New York City. MacDonald finds not only belonging, but a reinvigorated sense of purpose among activist-minded musicians who taught him to question the status quo—planting the seeds for his work as an anti-violence organizer. What comes of his travels is a profound story of rebellion, reinvention, and returning home.

He eventually ends up in Ireland where he discovers a real cultural heritage rooted in rebellion. It is this journey back to his roots that allows MacDonald to finally return home—reconciling with his family, neighborhood, and heritage.