The Forgotten (Irish) History of the Mexican-American War: An Interview with Pino Cacucci

Abstract

The text presents an edited transcript of an interview with Italian writer Pino Cacucci in Gijon, Spain, on July 13th, 2016. The subject of the interview is his latest novel, Quelli del San Patricio (2015), about a group of soldiers, mostly Irish Catholic immigrants, who deserted from the US Army during the Mexican-American War (1846-48) and under the leadership of John Riley formed a military unit, the Saint Patrick’s Battalion, to fight with the Mexicans. He mainly discusses what got him interested in the San Patricios, the process of turning history into narrative fiction, the criticisms the novel might raise for not being entirely faithful to historical fact, and the parallelisms that can be drawn between nineteenth century Irish emigration to the US and the current refugee crisis in Europe.