Bill Brett has filled four other books with his photos of Boston and its people, but the latest really hits home for the longtime Boston Globe photographer, the son of parents from County Sligo, Ireland. Featuring short profiles written by Carol Beggy, plus a foreword by historian David McCullough, Boston Irish collects more than 250 of Brett’s black-and-white images of Kennedys, Wahlbergs, Dropkick Murphys and multiple mayors, as well as lesser-known pillars of the Irish community, from priests, police officers and pub owners to this stylish centenarian, Sister Evelyn Hurley, a former teacher who turns 100 this month. “She just caught my eye when I saw her walking on Broadway a couple years ago,” Brett recalls. “I asked her, ‘Where did you ever find a coat like that?’ and she said, ‘I made it.’” Brett thought it was time to properly preserve stories like Hurley’s—and pay homage to another inspiring woman. “I decided to dedicate it to my mother because she was an immigrant like all those other immigrant mothers, who all had the same stories, went through the same problems,” Brett says. “And I thought this was the time to thank her.”