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Fletcher Flannery is
a handsome, young college student growing up in a neighborhood
of mixed, first generation nationalities. His second generation
exposure in school and on the playgrounds begins to erode
his dedication to Irish values as prompted by his mother and
her circle of Irish friends. He accepts his friends at face
value in spite of their being of different nationalities and
even different religions. His younger brother as well seems
to attract friends who are not Irish. Fletcher is the prototypical
second generation American spawned by the melting pot of divergent
peoples who will later form the basis for the most efficient
fighting army the world has ever known. He is in every sense,
a real American, proud of his ethnicity but prouder still
of the principles which has made America great.
He is the target of matchmaking by his mother and her best
friend. Mary is the beautiful daughter of the friend and seems
a plausible mate for the young man. In a moment of passion
Fletcher proposes to Mary and the idyllic arrangement is set
in motion. But when Ursula, the young daughter of a German
family appears on the scene, Fletcher is bowled over and realizes
that his love of Mary is superficial compared with the intense
feelings he develops for Ursula. In the Brooklyn of the thirties
with its secularism in high gear, a marriage between Fletcher
and Ursula seems impossible. Ecumenism of the Roman Catholic
Church has not yet been introduced as Luther is conveniently
confused with Lucifer. Aware of the impending problems, Fletcher
confesses his love for Ursula but lacks the backbone to break
it off with Mary until fate forces him to do so.
The background is a turbulent mixture of political forces
as Communists, the German-American Bund, and extremists on
both sides strive to vamp the American public to their particular
mindset. The 1939 New York World's Fair is being planned and
the Brooklyn Dodgers have already earned the affectionate
mantle of, "them bums!". Fiorello La Guardia is
mayor; Father Coughlin is busy bating Jews, Communists and
Protestants in general and Franklin Delano Roosevelt is in
mid-stride in his race to erase the disastrous effects of
the Great Depression. Will love conquer all? Read and find
out.
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