LAKE FOREST, Ill., March 18, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Before Abraham Lincoln met his end in the Ford Theatre, he almost engaged in a sword duel to the death on the banks of the Mississippi River with an Irishman named James Shields. The new biography, Courage and Country: James Shields: More Than Irish Luck (now available through 1stBooks), is a psychological history by J. Sean Callan of an important but little known figure of the 1800s.
Courage and Country is a biography written from a psychological perspective by Callan, a psychiatrist, who reveals little known information about this enigmatic man. "A knight-errant who carved a record of amazing achievement in the mid-19th century," Shields arrived in America in 1826 alone and penniless. However, he blazed an interesting and influential path through history with his illustrious military career. He became a hero in the Mexican-American War and had the distinction of being the only Union leader to defeat Stonewall Jackson, which garnered him respect from both sides of the Mason Dixon line. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from three different states and became an Illinois Supreme Court justice who advanced women's rights. However, despite his feats, Shields died in 1879 almost as financially broke as when he first stepped foot in America.
Callan, as a psychiatrist, examines Shields through a unique perspective, capturing the essence of his turbulent century. Always a familiar player in adversity, he fought off prejudice and political opposition based on both his nationality and his religion. This largely unknown man set standards for future immigrants and proved the theory of the American dream. With previously unpublished information on Lincoln, Courage and Country offers unique insight into the chaos of America in the 1800s and the lives of the Irish in America as seen through the eyes of Shields.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Callan is a board certified psychiatrist who spent nearly five years researching the life and times of Shields. A former contributing editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Callan was the U.S. correspondent for the Irish Medical Times for almost 30 years. He is the author of Your Guide to Mental Health, A Consumer Guide to Psychiatry (G. Stickley) and three plays, The Day Room and The Sixteenth Man, which were performed in Chicago, and Hearthstone, which was selected as the 2001 best new Irish play by Tara Circle in New York.
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