Sean macbride : a republican life, 1904-1946.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nic Dháibhéid, Caoimhe.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

MacBride, Seán.

Statesmen--Ireland--Biography.

Statesmen.

Reformers.

Ireland.

Reformers--Ireland--Biography.

Amnesty International.

Clann na Poblachta (Political party).

Politicians--Ireland--Biography.

Politicians.

Ireland--Politics and government--1922-.

Politics and government.

Ireland--History--1922-.

History.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 245 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool Univ Press, 2011.

Summary:

This book critically examines the republican career of one of Ireland's more controversial political figures, Seán MacBride (1904-88), focusing on his subversive activities prior to his reinvention as a constitutional politician.

MacBride, a Nobel and Lenin Prize-winning humanitarian, was a youthful participant in the Irish Revolution of 1916-23. He was an active member of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence, and found himself on the losing side of the 1922-23 Civil War. Rising through the ranks of the depleted and demoralised post-revolutionary republican movement, MacBride occupied a leadership position in the IRA for fifteen years, bridging the difficult formative years of the Irish Free State to the ascent of de Valera and Fianna Fáil. Leaving behind an active part in the republican movement in 1938, MacBride moved into legal circles, carving out a successful career at the Irish Bar through the years of the Emergency, while maintaining links with both the IRA and the German legation in Dublin.

As well as providing the first scholarly assessment of MacBride's political career within the Irish republican movement, this book offers wider reflections on the transition from violent republicanism to constitutional politics. The book also analyses internal tensions and strategic shifts within the Irish republican community in the post-revoiutionary period, in particular the oscillations between politics and militarism, and considers the political, ideological and moral challenges that the Second World War presented to Irish political culture.

An extremely interesting biographical study, written with a light and sensitive hand, which skilfully paints a credible portrait of a complex and elusive character. Professor Eunan O'Halpin, Trinity College Dublin Book jacket.

Contents:

1 'The Centre of Delight of the Household': 1904-1916 4

2 'Fighting the Tans at Fourteen': 1916-1918 17

3 Sean MacBride's Irish Revolution: 1919-1921 31

4 Rising through the Ranks: 1921-1926 52

5 'The Driving Force of the Army': 1926-1932 77

6 'The Guiding Influence of the Mass of the People should be the IRA': 1932-1937 100

7 Becoming Legitimate? 1938-1940 126

8 'Standing Counsel to the Illegal Organisation': 1940-1942 151

9 'One of the Most Dangerous Men in the Country': 1942-1946 172.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1846316588

9781846316586

OCLC:

699723340