It is 1915, a great war looms, and you are in The Bronx, a bastion of ethnic German enterprise, culture, and struggling Irish laborers. German spies and saboteurs roam the city. Firebrand Irish soapbox orators inflame crowds with anti-war speeches. Paranoia, hatred, and politics rage in the streets.
A week after the sinking of the Lusitania, pro-war thugs seriously injure a German junk dealer and his grandson, young Tommy Muldoon. Meanwhile, the boy's Irish nationalist father collaborates with German terrorists with disastrous consequences. His grandfather now blind, the boy takes over the junk business. Under the tumultuous backdrop of war, young Muldoon sets out to save his family, by day in the junkyard, by night learning to box from an ex-pug Catholic priest.
The times grow more perilous and the large German community in The Bronx bears the full brunt of the patriotic backlash. Breweries, beer gardens, and social clubs are all under suspicion, and the temperance movement grows apace. The social and economic fabric of The Bronx begins to unravel. Life there will never be the same. Nor will young Muldoon.
A sumptuous tapestry, interwoven with history and fiction, Natural Affinities tells of the last days of the golden age of The Bronx. A classical narrative, rich in detail, the profuse voices of its characters - priests and bartenders, boxers and violinists, politicians and brew masters - resound with the symphony of those tempestuous days full tone and tint. And at the end, Tommy Muldoon stands alone in the ring, finally understanding his destiny. And the reader, by knowing better these particular times deceased, may better understand the times present.
Praise for Natural Affinities
"Jim Ryan's book is a historical thriller written with great intelligence and urgency for our times." Maureen Howard, National Book Critics Circle Award winner and author of Facts of Life, Natural History, Big As Life, and others.
"In this big-hearted novel of New York there is the portrait of the great city that was, and the stirring people from whose lives our own have sprung." James Salter, PEN/Faulkner Award winner and author of A Sport and A Pastime, Dusk and other stories, Burning the Days and other works.
"Natural Affinities is an evocative and richly descriptive novel about
The Bronx almost a century ago, when it was on New York City's
northern frontier. Jim Ryan's book is accurate in virtually every
detail and provides a wonderful way to recapture a time and a place
that are now lost to most of us." Kenneth T. Jackson, Barzun Professor of History and Social Sciences, Columbia University, and Editor of The Encyclopedia of New York City.
"Natural Affinities is a provocative novel set in the era of the Great War about The Bronx, New York City when it was the exemplar of many German-Irish communities in our major cities. James Ryan's book is resonant with the experiences of those times, and provides a powerful insight for these times regarding the vulnerability of civil liberties in a democracy at war." Jerome J. Comello, Ph.D., (Colonel, U.S. Army Retired), Professor of Military Studies, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
"Of the books that now cross this editor's desk, two out of every ten are in some way related to terrorism. Of these, there are a very few that deserve our attention... In a departure from our policy of not reviewing or recommending works of fiction or novels, I am obligated to direct our reader's attention to a sumptuous literary tapestry, an intricate weaving of history and fiction, Natural Affinities by James Ryan. This is a story of a world long ago that most in America have never known or long forgotten. Ryan leaves the reader with an uneasy feeling that the acts of hatred and vindictiveness that characterized this particular era in American history are amazingly reflective of life within many of today's metropolitan areas. The author has produced a classical narrative, rich in detail and interlaced with just the right amount of history to keep the reader impatiently turning pages until the very last word." Robert H. Taylor, Editor, PARAMETERS: The US Army War College Quarterly (The United States Army's Senior Professional Journal).