Boston's towering Irish titans, from James Michael Curley to Ted Kennedy, have received plenty of attention. In "Hidden History of the Boston Irish: Little Known Stories from Ireland's Next Parish Over" by Peter F. Stevens, lesser known Boston Irish men and women are given some of the attention they, too, deserve. These include Civil War nurse Sister Mary Anthony O'Connell, who earned the nickname the "Irish Florence Nightingale." ($19.99 / 160 pages / History Press)