The Death Coach

This story is the first in a series about the Irish military diaspora. In 1608 King Karl IX of Sweden asked King James I of England could he recruit soldiers in Ireland to fight in his war against Poland–Lithuania. The English king obliged, and consequently English authorities press-ganged around 5000 Irish swordsmen into Swedish service. This is one of the many complex factors which paved the way for the Plantation of Ulster.

This story looks at three songs by the great protest singer and songwriter Phil Ochs, and examines how they remain relevant to contemporary America more than half a century on from their release.