Synopses & Reviews
In this detailed account, nineteenth-century Irish patriot and revolutionary Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa describes his life's experiences, tracing his early boyhood growing up on his grandfather's farm in Renascreena, his thirteen-year imprisonment for his involvement in the Fenian movement, and finally his exile to America, where he continued his activities in support of Irish independence.
In this epic memoir he tells of learning the Irish language as a child, of sitting around turf fires and hearing tales of fairies and battles, of landlords seizing the wheat crop for rent when the potato crop failed, and of his family being evicted from their home. Through it a portrait emerges of Ireland in the mid- to late 1800s, revealing what life was truly like for the Irish people.
Rossa's rambling style makes the narrative read like a fireside conversation between friends. He tells his story with frankness and honesty but without bitterness. Although he died six years before his beloved Ireland won its independence, his words no doubt influenced the next generation of revolutionaries.
Synopsis
The first American edition of a popular Irish patriot's remembrances.
About the Author
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was born in Rosscarbery, County Cork, in 1831 and in 1856 founded the Phoenix National and Literary Society "for the liberation of Ireland by force of arms." He was jailed in 1858, accused of plotting the Fenian Rising in 1865, tried for high treason, and sentenced to penal servitude for life, but was released in 1871 and exiled to America. While in New York he edited the United Irishman, raised £40,000 for the Fenian movement, and funded the Holland Submarine Project. He died in New York City in 1915 and was returned to Ireland for a hero's burial, with Patrick Pearse delivering his famous oration at his graveside.