Summer Reading With Meaning: Counter Culture: Clams, Convents, and Circle of Global Citizens

It’s been a wild summer in New England—days of hellish heat and yellowed smokey skies followed by winds carrying sweatshirt temperatures. The weather is apt metaphor for the state of the world. Exhausted by ceaseless vigilance for what comes next and the constant refrain of “this isn’t normal”, it’s easy to lose one’s bearings. I’ve been especially gratified to find a book that proved shelter from the storm, Eleanor Dunfey-Freiburger’s Counter Culture: Clams, Convents, and a Circle of Global Citizens.

The Dunfey clan is a cornerstone in New Hampshire history. The well-known Irish Catholic family of twelve children began their enterprises with a luncheonette in Lowell, Massachusetts, before opening a sliver of a clam shack in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, eventually evolving into Omni International Hotels.  

That fantastical trajectory is laid out with careful detail by youngest sibling, Eleanor, over 300 pages drawn as much from scholarly research as from her mother’s own memoir, the poetry of elder sister Kay, and conversations with siblings. By the book’s end, I  felt I had become an intimate member of a family built on optimism, gumption and a deep commitment to social justice. ​

Eleanor Dunfey-Frieburger with her award-winning memoir, "Counter Culture: Clams, Convents, and Circle of Global Citizens."

If you’re from the area, you’ll be interested in the book’s local New England history from the 1950s onward. To provide historical reference, the family’s first Hampton Beach venture in New Hampshire charged $1.20 for a plate of “Dunfey’s Famous Fried Clams,” and it was the first establishment to break a ban on selling pizza on the strip due to anti-Italian discrimination.

The memoir likewise brings to life seismic historical moments and iconic personalities that span the globe, invited to New England through the hospitality of the Dunfey family—Monica Williams, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, to name a few; the Northern Ireland Peace Talks, the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, and the rise of the Democratic Committee in New Hampshire and nationally were all influenced by one or more Dunfey family member. 

As the book unfolds, so does the family’s philosophy of “hospitality” as an expression of social justice—the “counter culture” of the book’s title. Rather than structured around events, the memoir is centered on relationships. At the heart of each relationship is the invitation—an unrestricted welcome to “come as you are” (indeed, the Dunfey’s slogan when they owned the historic Lamie’s Inn and Tavern). The book has many such invitations, but one example will suffice. 

Days after her husband, Martin Luther King, Jr., had been assassinated, Coretta Scott King needed refuge from national attention and ongoing security threats. An invitation was extended to her and  her four young children to spend the summer at the Dunfey family cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.

William Loeb had already editorialized in the Union Leader (the state’s largest, and most conservative, newspaper) that brother Jack Dunfey was holding Communist cell meetings at his home in Durham and “harboring” a black student from Keene who was attending the University of New Hampshire. While the Union Leader knew the King family was somewhere in New Hampshire, the “hiding” place was never divulged until years later, giving time for the family to heal in the embrace of friendship, and Coretta Scott King the time to begin writing her own memoir, "My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr."

The Dunfey creed of hospitality is attributed to the author’s parents. All twelve children were expected by father, LeRoy (“Roy”), to work the counters of the family’s several establishments (at times, waking in the middle of the night to make their shifts). According to mother, Catherine (“Kate”), the counter culture their father created  is where “all twelve children learned about the world and people’s needs.” Her own personal slogan: “Treat each person as though they are a guest in your own home.”

Evocative of a secular radical hospitality, the Dunfey’s counter culture extended unconditional welcome, especially to strangers, centering those marginalized on the fringes of society.  The memoir, from its first to last page, shows how such an ethos—whether at a luncheonette or during international peace negotiations—opens space where people, from all walks of life, can be seen, heard and valued. 

As the Dunfey enterprise moved from “success to significance”, it established the Global Citizens Circle. The non-profit still exists, gathering people from diverse backgrounds, generations and opinions “around the table” to hash out difficult conversations in authentic dialogue. The aim: to build trust, and from trust, change. Circles have been convened around the world and in the United States, bridging differences through relationships (think Protestant and Catholic participants at many Circles in Northern Ireland from the early 1970s on). 

In a world that runs as hot and cold as today’s, the Dunfey legacy of counter culture, carried forward by Global Citizens Circle, is needed more than ever.  The memoir reminds us that we’ve been through divisive times before and have weathered the storm. Global Citizen Circle invites people to find common ground for a shared future as members of an extended family. 

“Counter Culture” will leave you smiling with reminisces of mid-century New England and the New Hampshire seashore. More so, you may be inspired, as I was, to a revived optimism, to strike up conversation with a stranger, perhaps even invite them to your home for dinner—for after all, to quote Eleanor, “Life stories evolve from such invitations.” And, the book suggests, so does the world we want to call home.

Theresa de Langis, PhD, is an academic, researcher, and policy analyst at the intersection of women’s rights, sexual violence, and post-conflict justice. She’s recently repatriated to the U.S. after living in Cambodia for more than a decade. Dr. de Langis is currently adjunct faculty of the School of Arts, Sciences, and Education at Southern New Hampshire University. She is an Advisory Board Member of Global Citizens Circle since 2025. 

Please note: We invite members of the greater Global Citizens Circle community to contribute to GCC Voices. The views and opinions expressed in each blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Global Citizens Circle.

"The Dunfey legacy of the Global Citizens Circle is needed now more than ever, where we’ve seemed to have lost the capacity to engage in civil discourse across seemingly intrenched differences."    - Theresa de Langis, PhD