Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland 1858-1928

The present-day Republic of Ireland was created by a revolutionary elite which developed between 1858 and 1914. Here, one of Ireland's most eminent historians, Professor Tom Garvin, considers the social origins of the revolutionary politicians who became the rulers of Ireland after the 1916 Rising and examines their political preconceptions, ideologies and prejudices. In many cases they were not only influenced by old agrarian grievances and memories of the Great Irish Famine, but also, and more immediately, by the contemporary Catholic abhorrence of the Protestant and secular world symbolised by London, England and, to some extent, America. Drawing on the evidence of private letters and diaries as well as the popular nationalist journalism of the period, Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland makes a hugely original contribution to Irish historiography. Daring and provocative, it reconstructs the private thoughts, hopes and prejudices of the men and women who secured Irish independence.

Tom Garvin is Emeritus Professor of Politics at University College Dublin and an honorary research fellow at IBIS. His books include Nationalist Revolutionaries in Ireland (1987), 1922: The Birth of Irish Democracy (1996) and Preventing the Future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long? (2004) . He is also the author of many articles and chapters on Irish and comparative politics. He is an alumnus of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C., and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He has taught at the University of Georgia, Colgate University and Mount Holyoke College. His biography of Seán Lemass, Judging Lemass, was published by the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.