One of Ireland's most abidingly controversial political figures, Seán MacBride (1904-88) was a youthful participant in the Irish Revolution and an active member of the Irish Republican Army, rising through the ranks to occupy a leadership position for fifteen years. Seán MacBride is the first book to focus exclusively on MacBride's republican activities, on which his controversial reputation in Irish and British political circles rests. With extensive use of recently released archival material, including Department of Justice records and Bureau of Military History witness statements, this book combines a biographical focus with wider assessments of the important themes, including the persistence of republican opposition to the state after the Civil War and Ireland's ambiguous experience of World War II.
An exceptional man, an extraordinary career – a life of Seán MacBride, Ireland's most distinguished statesman Sean MacBride (1904–1988) was at different times the Chief of Staff of the IRA, a top criminal lawyer, leader of Clann na Poblachta, Irish Foreign Minister, UN Commissioner, and a founding member of Amnesty International. He is the only person to have won both the Nobel Peace Prize (1974) and the Lenin Peace Prize (1977). Seán MacBride, A Life, by accomplished historian Elizabeth Keane, is the first complete biography of this multifaceted, complex and internationally renowned Irish politician. From revolutionary terrorist to conservative constitutional politician to liberal elder statesman and international humanitarian, Seán MacBride uncovers the political and personal story of one of twentieth-century Ireland's most controversial figures. Seán MacBride begins with MacBride's birth in Paris in 1904. With icons of the nationalist movement in Ireland for parents, MacBride's future as a politician was fated: his father John MacBride was a Boer War hero executed for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916; his mother Maud Gonne was an outspoken revolutionary and the lost love and muse of Ireland's most famous poet W.B. Yeats. Seán MacBride then looks at MacBride's membership of the IRA, which he joined as teenager. He fought in both the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. Seán MacBride charts his rapid rise through the ranks, looking at how he became the Director of Intelligence and later Chief of Staff of the IRA before relinquishing his position and becoming a top criminal barrister. MacBride entered Dáil Éireann for the first time in 1947 as the leader of Clann na Poblachta, and formed the first coalition government in Irish history in 1948. Appointed Minister for External Affairs (Foreign Minister), Seán MacBride considers MacBride's tenure in office, which included overseeing the acceptance of the European Convention on Human Rights, the rejection of NATO and Ireland's exit from the Commonwealth. His refusal to support fellow Clann na Poblachta TD Noël Browne's Mother-and-Child Scheme in the face of the opposition of the Catholic bishops led to the collapse of the coalition. MacBride lost his seat in the 1957 election, retired officially from Irish party politics and entered the third phase of his life: international statesman and human rights activist. Seán MacBride looks at the pivotal role MacBride played in European and international politics and human rights over the course of his later years, including founding Amnesty International, opposing apartheid in South Africa and agitating against nuclear armament. Few Irish politicians have had such an impact domestically and internationally. From MacBride's violent IRA beginnings to his later advocacy of peace in politics, Seán MacBride, A Life captures the twists and turns of a fascinating career. A figure of national and international importance, one of the most distinguished Irish people of the twentieth century, he has found a biographer of authority and assurance in Elizabeth Keane, whose survey of his life and times is astute, insightful and convincing. Praise for Elizabeth Keane: 'A singular voice in Irish history' The Sunday Business Post Seán MacBride, A Life: Table of Contents Preface - Man of Destiny - A Sort of Homecoming - From Chief-of-Staff to Chief Counsel - Fighting Your Battles - The Harp Without the Crown - Rattling the Sabre - Coming out of the Cave - Catholic First, Irishman Second - A Statesman of International Status - Never Lost His Fenian FateConclusion
Portrait of one of Cork's foremost guerrilla leaders, who fought in the War of Independence and the Civil War and was a leading politician in the Fianna Fail Government for two decades until his untimely death in 1957. Sean Moylan offers a close and personal look at the man and his life. A fearless fighter, he led a series of ambushes in Cork as Commandant of the Cork No. 2 Brigade. He was part of the team that captured the only British General to be abducted during the War of Independence. Following the truce he fought on the anti-Treaty side during the Civil War. He was elected to the Dail in 1932 and served in various Cabinet posts until his death in 1957. Featuring previously unpublished letters from key figures in the Republican movement, this new biography offers a crucial insight into the realities of the War of Independence, the Civil War and the foundation of Fianna Fail.
In 1983 John Pilger interviewed nine remarkable people in a series broadcast on Channel 4 called "The Outsiders." He and Michael Coren, who researched the series have edited these, and added a chapter on Ken Livingstone to make this book a unique record of the outsider's contribution to society.
She can’t prove he did it. But she might die trying... From the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series, comes a standalone spinoff featuring DS Roberta Steel.
For almost forty years, Fr Sean McManus has been at the heart of the Irish American campaign to pressurise the British government regarding injustice in Northern Ireland. This is a deeply personal account of how his lone voice mainstreamed Northern Ireland on Capitol Hill, after the Catholic Church removed him from Britain. He became 'Britain's nemesis in America', founding the Irish National Caucus in 1974. Also chronicles the events and social context that influenced him, growing up in a parish divided by the Border.
Maud Gonne is often seen as a beautiful adjunct to famous men: as the muse and unrequited love of W.B. Yeats, the estranged wife of nationalist hero John MacBride and the mother of human rights activist Sean MacBride. However, she was an important revolutionary figure in her own right. This collection of the political writings of Maud Gonne sets out to broaden our understanding of female activism during the foundation of the Irish state and to appreciate the intellectual work of someone whose political engagement has been neglected. It examines the major campaigns of Gonne's political career: amnesty, children and the poor, the cause of Ireland, transnational solidarity, the literary revival, and the failures of the Free State. This is a passionate account of Irish wrongs and a fitting testament to a life dedicated to political freedom and social justice. -- Publisher description.
Maud Gonne, the legendary woman known as the Irish Joan of Arc, left her mark on everyone she met. She famously won the devotion of one of the greatest poets of the age, William Butler Yeats. Born into tremendous privilege, she allied herself with rebels and the downtrodden and openly defied what was at the time the world's most powerful empire. She was an actress, a journalist and an activist for the cause of Irish independence. Ignoring the threat of social ostracism, she had several children out of wedlock. She was an independent woman who charted her own course. Yet Maud Gonne was also a lifelong anti-semite, someone who, even after the horrors of the Second World War, could not summon sympathy for the millions murdered by the Nazis. A believer in the occult and in reincarnation, she took mescaline with Yeats to enhance visions of mythic Irish heroes and heroines, and in mid-life converted to Catholicism in order to marry her husband, the Irish Catholic war hero John MacBride. What motivated this extraordinary person? Kim Bendheim has long been fascinated by Maud Gonne's perplexing character, and here gives us an intensely personal assessment of her thrilling life. The product of much original research, including interviews with Gonne's equally vivid, unconventional descendants, The Fascination of What's Difficult is a portrait of a powerful woman who, despite her considerable flaws, continues to inspire.
