As I read one of the only books written about my uncle, Richard Croker, written in 1901 by Alfred Henry Lewis, I noted the authors empathy and sensitivity to this man, as he was alive when Lewis interviewed him an ultimately, when book was written. It was evident in his book that judging a person’s actions is really not fair without judging their personhood. If we and google reduce them to the villain, then we really never get the understanding of the full human being. I wanted to find the good in any malicious actions that may have occurred and I did discovered a lot within Richard Croker’s life, thus my title being, “ Redemption.” I figure, at this point, I can clear up some mis- information about his character while exploring what life was like during his lifetime. I am here to uncover his full character as well as his political antics so we can all receive a complete vision of who Richard Croker really was. I have penned the title,”Redemption”, because of this overarching theme of this book.

This memoir explores the historical journey of the life and times of The Croker ancestry, an immigrant family from Cork Ireland, who begin their lives, first, in the slums of New York City and how Richard and his siblings, including my great grandmother, maneuvered through life as new Americans while weaving in and out of life in honesty and in some cases, corruption.