Blogging here has been fairly light over the weekend because of all the early St Patrick’s Day events.
I was at the London Irish Book Fair in Hammersmith Irish Centre on Saturday, where I managed to get hold of ATQ Stewart’s A Deeper Silence, courtesy of the Connolly Association’s Four Provinces Bookshop.
It’s a book I’ve been after for a while. Here’s the blurb from the back cover:
The formation of the Society of United Irishmen, the eighteenth-century revolutionary movement which continues to inspire and shape modern Irsh nationalism, is popularly placed firmly in 1791. In fact, the roots of the Society go much deeper – to the French Revolution and the American War of Independence, and even to the English Civil War.
In this vigorous, meticulously researched account, distinguished Irish historian A.T.Q. Stewart traces those roots back to their sometimes unexpected sources. While it is widely accepted that the Presbyterians of Antrim and Down were the cutting edge of the United Irish movement, other influences are less well known. The Protestant republicanism of Oliver Cromwell as transmitted into the eighteenth century by the ‘real Whigs’ and Commonwealthmen is one example which will perhaps surprise many, as is the important role played by Freemasonry in the development of radical politics in Ireland.
I’ll try and post a review once I’ve finished the book.
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