MUTINY AT THE CURRAGH

by A.P. Ryan ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

This may seem already outdated, because the explosive issue of Irish Home Rule more than forty years ago seems ancient history. But actually, Mr. Ryan in his study, highlights a significant historical era, and touches upon the elemental as well as the sophisticated wellsprings of modern politics. He might well have drawn parallels with the Hindu-Moslim crisis in Pakistan. Immediately before World War I England and Ireland were politically riven to the point of armed revolt. The issue was Home Rule. The sources of hostility were twofold:- the fear, particularly in Ulster, among the Protestants, that Home Rule implied suppression and abuse by the Catholic majority; the attempt on the part of both the Liberals (under Asquith) and the Conservatives (under Bonar Law and Asquith) to make political capital out of the embroilment and still meet the stresses unleashed within party ranks. The proportions of the conflict have never before been set forth with anything approaching Mr. Ryan's objectivity. An astounding fact is that a civilian army was drilled with the aim of defying the government, and this army- equipped secretly with guns- was supposedly incited to violence so that the Liberals could destroy it in open conflict. Doggedly the myriad bits of evidence are traced. Whether the book will arouse controversy at this date is questionable.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1956

Categories: NONFICTION