THE EASTER REBELLION

by Max Caulfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Sometimes exciting and frequently exasperating, this lengthy book by an Irish author gives a painstaking, blow-by-blow account of the Sinn Fein rebellion against the English in Dublin during Easter Week, 1916. Like the rebellion itself, the book is a angle of confusion to a non-Dubliner, for the author seldom identifies the participants in the uprising except by name (and many names are similar), and fails to explain the connection between the various groups involved in the affair. The rebellion, badly organized and based largely on wishful thinking, got off to a poor start. All Ireland did not join the revolt, as the conspirators had dreamed; one of their readers, Sir Roger Casement, brought to Ireland by a German submarine, was captured by the British; guns and ammunition sent from Germany did not arrive, nor did hoped-for help from America. Although warned that the rebellion must fail, Patrick Pearse, ""President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic"", ordered that it start Easter Monday, April 24, a ""reckless and irresponsible act"" which brought destruction to much of Dublin and death or injury to some thousands of men. Irish readers may enjoy this overlong and awkwardly-written book, but to one non-Irish American the best account of the Easter Week uprising is still that of a Dubliner who did not fight in it: Sean O'Casey's play, The Plough and the Stars.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1963

Categories: NONFICTION