Limerick-born author Frank McCourt's bestseller, Angela's Ashes, and what it has done for the city made the front page of yesterday's New York Times. It appears the tale has improved Limerick's image rather than the reverse, despite earlier ridicule.
Another question of image concerns the five-day flying visit to the US of Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Martin McGuinness and Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, which raises the question here: what will it do for the perception of Sinn Fein in America?
The Sinn Fein visit starts tomorrow with a Washington reception in the Phoenix Park Hotel, hosted by the Irish-American Unity Conference.
The political high point of the visit will be Wednesday evening's meeting between Mr Adams and President Clinton's National Security Adviser, Mr Samuel Berger.
The Sinn Fein leader will meet separately with Secretary of Commerce Mr William Daley (son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, a kingmaker, and brother of current Mayor Mr Rich Daley) and Senators Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd and, later, Senator Robert Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey.
On Thursday morning Sinn Fein's representatives will have breakfast with members of the US Congress in Mr Peter King's offices, and later meet the chairman of the International Relations Committee, Mr Ben Gilman. The fund-raising high point is Thursday night's dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, New York, for which 530-plus diners will pay $500 a plate. The master of ceremonies is Mr Frank Durkan, an influential lawyer and nephew of Mr Paul O'Dwyer, who cannot recall a time when an Irish dinner drew so many diners at so high a price that the Plaza Hotel, which was booked initially, could not handle the crowd.
The famous Roseland Ballroom on New York's west side has been booked for Friday evening for a non-fundraising reception so that the three Sinn Fein men can meet the less wealthy New York Irish. Mr McGuinness flies to San Francisco on Saturday to visit three Maze Prison escapees of 1983, who are fighting extradition to the UK.
Apart from publicity, goodwill and money, what does Sinn Fein hope this tour, which ends on Sunday, will accomplish? For Mr Adams, it is no longer a matter of name recognition: he has that in spades. What he and his colleagues need now is US government approval and recognition.
Mr Berger will explore Mr Adams's thoughts on the talks which open on September 15th. What does he hope to achieve and what type of agreement is he willing to sign for Sinn Fein?
Mr Clinton's National Security Adviser will seek to learn the relationship in fact between Sinn Fein and the IRA and obviate misunderstandings in the future. He will judge Sinn Fein's commitment to peace and advise the President; this may not be through direct questioning. The administration will seek an assurance that Sinn Fein's commitment to peace can be relied upon.
The present support of IrishAmericans for Sinn Fein has kept the ball in the air till now.
Friday's New York Times, a newspaper which is holy writ to many in Washington, noted, in the lead story on the invitation to Sinn Fein to join the peace talks: "Although officials and experts say that Sinn Fein and the IRA are virtually the same organisation, with close co-ordination of political and military policy, Gerry Adams is thought to strongly influence overall IRA policy.
"But he is not believed to be involved in decisions on IRA operations." This is like Lloyd George's question in cabinet in the spring of 1921 on who controlled the gun in Ireland? De Valera (Sinn Fein) or Michael Collins (the IRA)?
Lloyd George would do business with the man who controlled the gun. He decided that man was Collins.