An eloquent account of the savage British suppression of the 1798 rising of the Society of United Irishmen in Northern Ireland. Inspired by the American and French revolutions, the 1798 rising against British rule was brought about by a rare coalition of Irish Catholics and Protestants. As Stewart points out, the United Irishmen was originally a benign patriotic organization devoted to reform and repeal of barbarous British anti-Catholic laws. With the commencement of war with France in 1793, the author explains, British authorities suspected the United Irish movement of harboring pro-French elements, and suppressed it. The rebellion actually went through three disjointed phases in the spring and summer of 1798: the May outbreak of a spontaneous army, mostly of peasants, in the southeast; the August uprising in Mayo; and the short-lived uprising (June 613) in the northern counties, which is the principal subject of the author's narrative. Stewart recounts the doomed rebel effort, a tale of mostly small skirmishes and small maneuvers, from the ``turn-out'' of rebel forces, armed with pikes, along the coast until the climactic ``Battle of Antrim,'' actually a massacre of rebels of Ballynahinch and the main rebel position at Ednavady Hill. The poorly armed and disorganized rebels, led by charismatic leaders like Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken, were finally suppressed by British forces under Major- General George Nugent. While the rebellion's surviving leaders were brutally executed, the memory of the rebellion, and its brief union of Catholics and Protestants, lived on to inspire the Irish patriots of the future. Vividly drawing on primary sources such as letters and diaries, the author makes the tragic rebellion come alive, absorbing the reader in a compelling story of heroism and tragedy. (History Book Club selection)
Pub Date: Sept. 2, 1996
ISBN: 0-85640-558-2
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Dufour
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
A clear and candid contribution to an essential conversation.
Straight talk to blacks and whites about the realities of racism.
In her feisty debut book, Oluo, essayist, blogger, and editor at large at the Establishment magazine, writes from the perspective of a black, queer, middle-class, college-educated woman living in a “white supremacist country.” The daughter of a white single mother, brought up in largely white Seattle, she sees race as “one of the most defining forces” in her life. Throughout the book, Oluo responds to questions that she has often been asked, and others that she wishes were asked, about racism “in our workplace, our government, our homes, and ourselves.” “Is it really about race?” she is asked by whites who insist that class is a greater source of oppression. “Is police brutality really about race?” “What is cultural appropriation?” and “What is the model minority myth?” Her sharp, no-nonsense answers include talking points for both blacks and whites. She explains, for example, “when somebody asks you to ‘check your privilege’ they are asking you to pause and consider how the advantages you’ve had in life are contributing to your opinions and actions, and how the lack of disadvantages in certain areas is keeping you from fully understanding the struggles others are facing.” She unpacks the complicated term “intersectionality”: the idea that social justice must consider “a myriad of identities—our gender, class, race, sexuality, and so much more—that inform our experiences in life.” She asks whites to realize that when people of color talk about systemic racism, “they are opening up all of that pain and fear and anger to you” and are asking that they be heard. After devoting most of the book to talking, Oluo finishes with a chapter on action and its urgency. Action includes pressing for reform in schools, unions, and local governments; boycotting businesses that exploit people of color; contributing money to social justice organizations; and, most of all, voting for candidates who make “diversity, inclusion and racial justice a priority.”
A clear and candid contribution to an essential conversation.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58005-677-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Seal Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
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