R.F. Foster (Get this book) A bracing study of the rebels who secured Ireland's freedom from Britain nearly a century ago.When it comes to people who once lived and breathed, Foster, perhaps the pre-eminent student of Irish history working today, is no hagiographer. Moreover, he does not subscribe to the great man theory of history. As he writes here, by way of prelude, one of his interests is to show "how a revolutionary generation comes to be made, rather than born." Although Irish politics has been definitively sectarian, especially in its nationalist (or unionist) dimensions, the author observes that many of the first-generation rebels against British rule were Protestant; one, Alice Milligan, described herself as an "internal prisoner" of her family. Readable and provocative. Students of contemporary Irish history have few better guides than the sometimes-dyspeptic but refreshingly agenda-less Foster.--Kirkus
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