Background
McHale was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa and drew upon his own Irish Catholic boyhood in his writing.
McHale was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa and drew upon his own Irish Catholic boyhood in his writing.
He was the author of Dooley"s Delusion, a novel published in 1972, a story about the "Great West" (Sioux City) set in the 1880s and 1890s. He was known in Iowa for his use of "Irish mythology and Catholic theology," a unique style not used by other Iowa writers. In 1972, when McHale published Dooley"s Delusion, he was employed as a real estate executive in Dallas, Texas.
He spent five years researching the history of Sioux City before he wrote the book
Dooley"s Delusion (1971) is religious fiction about the struggle between two groups of Irish-Catholic parishioners over their relocation to Saint Joseph Church in Sioux City, Iowa prior to the panic of 1893. He has dreams of becoming a Catholic priest in his native Ireland.
A bitter quarrel takes place between the Irish and the affluent citizens of Sioux City who live on the "other side of the tracks."
His papers are kept in the special collections of the library of the University of Iowa.
Protagonist Gabriel Dooley is a member of the impoverished "shanty Irish" living in Sioux City.