Synopses & Reviews
Though Ireland is a relatively small island on the northeastern fringe of the Atlantic, 70 million people worldwide--including some 45 million in the United States--claim it as their ancestral home. In this wide-ranging, ambitious book, Cian T. McMahon explores the nineteenth-century roots of this transnational identity. Between 1840 and 1880, 4.5 million people left Ireland to start new lives abroad. Using primary sources from Ireland, Australia, and the United States, McMahon demonstrates how this exodus shaped a distinctive sense of nationalism. By doggedly remaining loyal to both their old and new homes, he argues, the Irish helped broaden the modern parameters of citizenship and identity.
From insurrection in Ireland to exile in Australia to military service during the American Civil War, McMahon's narrative revolves around a group of rebels known as Young Ireland. They and their fellow Irish used weekly newspapers to construct and express an international identity tailored to the fluctuating world in which they found themselves. Understanding their experience sheds light on our contemporary debates over immigration, race, and globalization.
Review
The Global Dimensions of Irish Identity is an impressive, ambitious achievement that crucially extends our understanding of the global impact of the Young Ireland movement. An important and innovative study, this book makes a significant contribution to the field and is bound to appeal to scholars and general readers alike. -- Malcolm Campbell, author of Ireland's New Worlds
Review
While the Irish diasporic experience has attracted an increasing amount of first-rate research, the range, depth, and intelligence of McMahon's treatment assures The Global Dimensions of Irish Identity a place in the very front rank of even so burgeoning a historiography. Indeed it deserves to become a landmark work not only in Irish migration studies but also in migration studies more generally. -- Joe Lee, New York University
About the Author
Cian T. McMahon is assistant professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.