Irish Rebel: John Devoy and America’s Fight for Irish Freedom, by Terry Golway
IRISH REBEL John Devoy and America’s Fight for Irish Freedom Terry Golway
When we think of Irish America and the influence of its Fenian movement on Irish Independence, it is perhaps the name of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa that comes first to mind. Yet, if O’Donovan Rossa was the figurehead and firebrand for the Fenians, it is John Devoy who was its strategist and architect, who critically organised and delivered huge levels of funds for its campaigns in Britain and to the increasingly militant Irish nationalists. Terry Golway’s compelling biography reveals just how central Devoy was, both notionally and practically, to the Irish revolutionaries and the subsequent events of Easter Week 1916 – and emphasises the critical American component to those pivotal events. The book, featuring 20 black & white photographs, is available in paperback €19.99 (£15.99).
About the book: John Devoy lead a remarkable life, packed with adventure, intrigue and drama. From simple beginnings in Co. Kildare, he travelled to France in 1861 to meet John Mitchel and spent a year in the French Foreign Legion. On his return to Ireland, James Stephens, founder of the IRB, assigned Devoy as chief organiser of the Fenians then serving in the British Army. Devoy would mastermind Stephens escape from prison in 1865 but was devastated when Stephens blocked the planned putative rebellion in the same year. Devoy was tried for treason in 1866 and endured a severe regime in Irish and English jails over the next five years. In 1871 he was exiled to the United States where he became instrumental in making Clann na Gael the key Irish republican movement in America – and a vital source of funds for physical force nationalists.
Over the next half-century he was the most prominent leader of the Irish-American nationalist movement. Every Irish leader from Parnell to Pearse sought his counsel. Tirelessly active, he organised a dramatic rescue of Fenian prisoners from Australia and returned them to the US aboard the Catapula, rallied Irish America behind the Land War after meeting Davitt and Parnell, assisted Roger Casement in the arming of Irish Volunteers, acted as a middle-man between the Easter rebels and the German government, and ultimately helped move Irish-American opinion in favour of the Treaty. When he died in 1928, Devoy was accorded a state funeral and a hero’s burial – like his old comrade O’Donovan Rossa – in Glasnevin cemetery.
About the author: Terry Golway is a New York journalist who has worked for the New York Observer, the editorial board of the New York Times, and is currently a senior editor at Politico New York. He holds a Ph.D. in US History from Rutgers University and is a member of the 2016 Commemoration Committee at New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House. As well as being a frequent guest on American radio and television, he has written over a dozen books including titles on Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and the politics of Tammany Hall.
