3. Volume 2: Famine, Fenians and Freedom, 1840-1882, First edition

Famine, Fenians and Freedom, 1840-1882 is the second volume of a trilogy on resistance and rebellion in the British Empire. It examines the Irish dimension in Britain’s Empire, evident in Three Rebellions: Canada 1837-1838, South Wales 1839 and Victoria, Australia 1854, through attempts especially by the Young Ireland and Fenian movements to achieve Ireland’s independence through rebellion between 1840 and 1882 and by the populist and parliamentarian constitutionalist Repeal Association and campaign for Home Rule to achieved devolved government. Fenians rejected the constitutional path and sought change through armed struggle and this spread across the Atlantic to the United States and Canada, to South Africa and Australasia where it was absorbed by existing Irish communities and reinforced by recent immigrants. In these disparate communities, the notion of an independent Ireland was sustained though what it meant in practice within those communities differed. Fenians rejected the constitutional path and sought change through armed struggle and this spread across the Atlantic to the United States and Canada, to South Africa and Australasia where it was absorbed by existing Irish communities and reinforced by recent immigrants. In these disparate communities, the notion of an independent Ireland was sustained though what it meant in practice within those communities differed.

Contents

Preface

1: A diaspora

2: Repeal, famine and rebellion

3: Fenians and rebellion in Britain, 1850-1882

4: Irish nationalism in North America to 1865

5: Rebellion in Canada

6: Rebellion in Australia

7: Linking Rebellion

Bibliography

Index

Features

• The nature and impact of the Famine in its global Irish context in Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia

• Why, how and where Irish emigrated and how they settled into their new communities

• How different approaches to Irish nationalism evolved in Ireland, British colonies in Canada and Australia and in the United States and why it failed to achieve its objectives between 1840 and 1882

• The nature and differences in the character of Irish rebellion in Ireland, mainland Britain, Canada and Australia in 1848 and during the 1860s looking especially at its military character and failure

• The role played by individuals such as Daniel O’Connell, Thomas Davis, John Mitchel, John O’Mahony, James Stephens, John O’Neill, John Devoy, Michael Davitt, Isaac Butt and Charles Stewart Parnell

• The political character of the Irish diaspora

Famine, Fenians and Freedom was published in November 2011 and is also available as a Kindle.