The Road to McCarthy

An Anglo-Irishman in search of his roots takes readers on a classic meander through some of the world's most exotic and intriguing Irish communities in this hilarious new travelogue from the bestselling author of "McCarthy's Bar."

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Pete McCarthy established one cardinal rule of travel in his bestselling debut McCarthy's Bar: Never pass a bar with your name on it. In this equally wry and insightful follow-up, Pete's characteristic good humor, curiosity, and thirst for adventure take him on a fantastic jaunt around the world in search of his Irish roots -- from Morocco, where he tracks down the unlikely chief of the McCarthy clan, to Rocky Sullivan's in New York, where he braves a crowd of stratospherically drunken Scotsmen in the midst of their St. Patrick's Day celebrations -- just before he is engulfed by a sea of green plastic bowler hats on Fifth Avenue.

After clocking thousands of miles and landing in more than a few exotic locations, he finally reaches his coveted destination: a remote and sparsely populated Alaskan town (named McCarthy, of course) where the eighteen townspeople are far outnumbered by the bears. Risking life, limb, and liberty in an almost heroic effort to trace his own lineage, he also happens to discover the peculiar and fascinating history of McCarthys everywhere while managing to down a few good pints along the way.

Packed with unexpected detours and dozens of hilarious moments, The Road to McCarthy is a quixotic and anything but typical Irish odyssey that confirms Pete McCarthy's status as one of the funniest and most incisive authors writing today.

--Chicago Tribune