Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from Doubleday Books,
via Netgalley, review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
via Netgalley, review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
Did you know that there was once an attempt by Irish American revolutionaries
to free Ireland by invading Canada?
Yup, sure was!
Synopsis:
Just over a year after Robert E. Lee relinquished his sword, a band of Union and Confederate veterans dusted off their guns. But these former foes had no intention of reigniting the Civil War. Instead, they fought side by side to undertake one of the most fantastical missions in military history: to seize the British province of Canada and to hold it hostage until the independence of Ireland was secured.
By the time that these invasions--known collectively as the Fenian raids--began in 1866, Ireland had been Britain's unwilling colony for seven hundred years. Thousands of Civil War veterans who had fled to the United States rather than perish in the wake of the Great Hunger still considered themselves Irishmen first, Americans second. With the tacit support of the U.S. government and inspired by a previous generation of successful American revolutionaries, the group that carried out a series of five attacks on Canada--the Fenian Brotherhood--established a state in exile, planned prison breaks, weathered infighting, stockpiled weapons, and assassinated enemies. Defiantly, this motley group, including a one-armed war hero, an English spy infiltrating rebel forces, and a radical who staged his own funeral, managed to seize a piece of Canada--if only for three days.
When the Irish Invaded Canada is the untold tale of a band of fiercely patriotic Irish Americans and their chapter in Ireland's centuries-long fight for independence. Inspiring, lively, and often undeniably comic, this is a story of fighting for what's right in the face of impossible odds.
Review:
I had heard of the Fenian's Folly, but really hadn't understood what it had all been about, other than post Civil War forces looking for a fight. Having read Say Nothing, I now had a better understanding of how DEEP seated the thirst for Ireland's independence was for those who emigrated to America, so I wanted to check out this book to see WHY this group thought their plan would work.
This book really goes into depth about the PEOPLE involved- how each man's actions were primarily based on their time in Ireland, and the Irish 'stubbornness' to not give up. The book really helps the reader to understand what issues the Irish immigrants faced, and why they tended to remain in cultural enclaves, and why they were willing to fight in the Civil War in America. Then post war, why the idea of freeing Canada, from British control, was step one to freeing Ireland.
Not that it worked.
But the book helps those interested in American and Irish history understand how closely the ties still were to the homeland, and how they stayed that way through the Troubles, with American Irish families helping to support the IRA and Sinn Fein with money. While you may shake your head at the doomed failures (like not knowing they were still in the US, not Canada, on the last foray), you have to admire their stubbornness to try! This is an interesting book, that should be read by all history lovers!
About the Author:
Review:
I had heard of the Fenian's Folly, but really hadn't understood what it had all been about, other than post Civil War forces looking for a fight. Having read Say Nothing, I now had a better understanding of how DEEP seated the thirst for Ireland's independence was for those who emigrated to America, so I wanted to check out this book to see WHY this group thought their plan would work.
This book really goes into depth about the PEOPLE involved- how each man's actions were primarily based on their time in Ireland, and the Irish 'stubbornness' to not give up. The book really helps the reader to understand what issues the Irish immigrants faced, and why they tended to remain in cultural enclaves, and why they were willing to fight in the Civil War in America. Then post war, why the idea of freeing Canada, from British control, was step one to freeing Ireland.
Not that it worked.
But the book helps those interested in American and Irish history understand how closely the ties still were to the homeland, and how they stayed that way through the Troubles, with American Irish families helping to support the IRA and Sinn Fein with money. While you may shake your head at the doomed failures (like not knowing they were still in the US, not Canada, on the last foray), you have to admire their stubbornness to try! This is an interesting book, that should be read by all history lovers!
About the Author:
CHRISTOPHER KLEIN is the author of four books, including Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, America's First Sports Hero. A frequent contributor to History.com, Christopher has also written for The Boston Globe, The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Harvard Magazine, Smithsonian.com, and AmericanHeritage.com. He lives in Andover, Massachusetts.
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