Pioneers cover

Pioneers

by Steve MacDonogh

Tells the story of the Irish ancestry of Barack Obama's mother, Ann Dunham. "Her great-great grandfather who immigrated from the small village of Moneygall in Ireland to the Scioto Valley in Ohio, and of his relatives who made the journey before him. This Irish family, the Kearneys, came first to Baltimore, Maryland, then moved west with the frontier to Ohio... [and] further, to Indiana ... before many of the Dunhams and Kearneys moved on to Kansas, some to Oklahoma ... [This is] a poignant evocation of Ireland's darkest years, America's pioneering past and ow the two are intertwined in a dramatic narrative encapsulating the American Dream ... This is also the story of the eighteenth century Irish Protestant immigrants."

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?