The Jesuit on the Waterfront

James Fisher, a professor of history at Fordham, has just published On the Irish Waterfront, the story of the New York/New Jersey waterfront, which was run by the Irish mob for the first half of the 20th century.   A review is here.  America magazine has made a video of the author talking about the book.

The book’s publication is an occasion to remember John Corridan, SJ, a labor priest who worked tirelessly to reform the docks.  Corridan was responsible for getting the Hollywood screenwriter Budd Schulberg interested in the corruption on the docks.  Schulberg wrote the great movie “On the Waterfront,” which immortalized Corridan as the crusading priest Father Barry.  Here is Father Barry, played by Karl Malden, in one of the movie’s memorable scenes.