Publication date:
20 January 2016Length of book:
288 pagesPublisher
Manchester University PressDimensions:
234x156mmISBN-13: 9780719091049
By European standards, the left in Ireland has not been successful historically, yet its failure has concealed considerable achievement in the occasional great popular mobilisations of the past two centuries. In the process, virtually every shade of radical thought has found expression in Ireland at some point or other, and the country has produced a diverse and colourful range of social rebels. Studies in Irish radical leadership, an edited collection of nineteen biographies of labour leaders and radical activists, examines a sample of the men and women who made that history of protest. Looking over the shoulders of Connolly and Larkin, it provides fascinating insights into the careers and mentalities of Irish labour's second-string leaders. It ranges from the primitive rebels of the early nineteenth century to the parliamentarians of the late twentieth, and asks what kind of people they were, what motivated them, and what is leadership?
‘The book ends with an ‘Afterword’, for which the stated aim of this collection is to open up research opportunities. Given the level of diversity, source interrogation, and depth of writing that has gone into each and every one of these chapters, this impressive publication clearly responds to that challenge and is highly recommended reading.’
Neil Pye, SSLH and Independent Researcher, Labour History Review, vol. 81 No. 2, July 2016