How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads

In a series of lively essays, this pioneering book proves that
US slang has its strongest wellsprings in nineteenth-century Irish
America. "Jazz" and "poker," "sucker" and "scam" all derive from Irish.
While demonstrating this, Daniel Cassidy simultaneously traces the
hidden history of how Ireland fashioned America, not just
linguistically, but through the Irish gambling underworld, urban street
gangs, and the powerful political machines that grew out of them.
Cassidy uncovers a secret national heritage, long discounted by our
WASP-dominated culture.