Download or read book Irish Gandy Dancer written by Ryan Michael Collins and published by Createspace Indie Pub Platform. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John McGlinchey, a young Irish transplant from County Donegal finds little opportunity in South Philadelphia during Reconstruction era America. His war time savings nearly depleted, he is determined to find work and joins hundreds of his countrymen in one of the greatest engineering quests of the time, building the Trans-Continental Railroad. McGlinchey provides a first person narrative of the events he encounters that overturn many of his contemporary views of race and religion while at the same time providing an unvarnished view of people great and small that shaped this grand endeavor.