Now in paperback comes the story of the intersection of the Irish and African-American experiences in the crucible of 19th-century New York--a story of race and hatred, love and war, of risk and dauntless courage. n nThey came by boat from a starving land--and by the Underground Railroad from Southern chains--seeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the bottom of a great metropolis. But in the terrible July of 1863, the poor and desperate of Paradise Alley would face a new catastrophe--as flames from the war that was tearing America in two reached out to set their city on fire.n