Synopses & Reviews
On the morning of Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, the seven men who made up the Military Council of the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood gathered in Dublins Liberty Hall. By noon, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, in which they declared themselves to be the provisional government of an entity that claimed the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman, had been taken to the printers. Each man knew full well that in putting his name to this document he had signed his own death warrant. Carnage, destruction, humiliation and posthumous glory followed. As did an Ireland that would have satisfied none of them partitioned, sectarian, mean-spirited, hostile to challenge or creativity and governed by narrow self-interest.
Increasingly, there is recognition that its time for an honest discussion of the Rising and its legacy. While not everyone agrees that what they did took Ireland in the right direction, there is no doubting that their proclamation and subsequent initiation of an armed rebellion profoundly changed the course of Irish history. A major contribution to the discourse, this is the first work to properly scrutinize Irelands founding fathers, examining how they came to espouse violence, how their lives converged and whether they had a coherent vision for Ireland or were, as some now allege, a collection of ill-assorted fanatical misfits and failures. Brilliant and thought-provoking, The Seven sets out to answer the fundamental questions of who the founding fathers really were and whether they were right or wrong.
Synopsis
"Highly entertaining and engagingly irreverent."
--New York Review of Books "Ruth Dudley Edwards offers astute portraits of the leaders of the 1916 Rebellion. Her analysis of how these complex men, idealistic but also uncompromising, led a rebellion is a superb introduction to this period of momentous change in Irish history."
--Colm Toibin, bestselling author of Brooklyn and Nora Webster
On Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, the seven men who made up the Military Council of the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood gathered in Dublin's Liberty Hall. By noon, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic had been taken to the printers. Each man knew that he had signed his own death warrant. Carnage, destruction, humiliation and posthumous glory followed. As did an Ireland that would have satisfied none of them - partitioned, sectarian, mean-spirited, hostile to challenge or creativity and governed by narrow self-interest.
One hundred years on, award-winning writer Ruth Dudley Edwards explores how the lives of Ireland's founding fathers converged and how they came to espouse violence.
A brilliant, thought-provoking reassessment, THE SEVEN provides a scrupulous examination of each of these men, challenging us to judge their actions and to find an answer to the question of what their legacy should be.
Synopsis
On Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, the seven members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood's military council met to proclaim an Irish Republic with themselves as the provisional government. After a week of fighting with the British army on the streets of Dublin, the Seven were arrested, court-martialled and executed.
Cutting through the layers of veneration that have seen them regarded unquestioningly as heroes and martyrs by many, Ruth Dudley Edwards provides shrewd yet sensitive portraits of Ireland's founding fathers. She explores how an incongruous group, which included a communist, visionary Catholic poets and a tobacconist, joined together to initiate an armed rebellion that changed the course of Irish history. Brilliant, thought-provoking and captivatingly told, The Seven challenges us to see past the myths and consider the true character and legacy of the Easter Rising.