Robert Briscoe

Using a wealth of previously unavailable archival material, this biography charts the political career of Robert Briscoe (1894-1969), revealing his significant influence within a developing and contentious Irish political culture, as well as reinforcing his importance for the global Zionist rescue effort of the 1930s.

This biography reveals the full significance of Robert Briscoe's influence within the contentious political culture of the early Irish state, as well as reinforcing his importance to the global Zionist rescue effort of the 1930s. Drawing on a wealth of previously unavailable archival material, the book charts Briscoe's evolution from a fringe Sinn Féin activist in 1917 to a member of Michael Collins's personal staff in 1921. It also analyses his agonizing decision to abandon Collins and support the anti-Treaty stance of his close friend and political hero, Éamon de Valera, before becoming a founding member of Fianna Fáil in 1926. Most importantly of all, the book investigates Briscoe's evolving Jewish awareness, looking at his involvement in a traumatic immigration endeavour and also at his engagement with Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the New Zionist Organisation, under whose auspices he led political rescue missions to Poland, America and South Africa.

Autorentext

Kevin McCarthy holds a PhD in History from University College Cork. His research interests focus on Irish Jewish relations in mid-twentieth-century Ireland. He has published a number of articles on the complex political career of Robert Briscoe and on Irish immigration policy in the mid-twentieth century.

Klappentext

This biography reveals the full significance of Robert Briscoe s influence within the contentious political culture of the early Irish state, as well as reinforcing his importance to the global Zionist rescue effort of the 1930s. Drawing on a wealth of previously unavailable archival material, the book charts Briscoe s evolution from a fringe Sinn Féin activist in 1917 to a member of Michael Collins s personal staff in 1921. It also analyses his agonizing decision to abandon Collins and support the anti-Treaty stance of his close friend and political hero, Éamon de Valera, before becoming a founding member of Fianna Fáil in 1926. Most importantly of all, the book investigates Briscoe s evolving Jewish awareness, looking at his involvement in a traumatic immigration endeavour and also at his engagement with Ze ev Jabotinsky and the New Zionist Organisation, under whose auspices he led political rescue missions to Poland, America and South Africa.

Zusammenfassung
«The odyssey of Robert Briscoe [...] is a fascinating one. He was at the crossroads of both Irish and Jewish nationalism. Kevin McCarthy has recovered his story for a wider audience and has thereby made an important contribution to Jewish as well as to Irish history.»
(Colin Shindler, The Jewish Chronicle March 31, 2016)

Inhalt

Contents: 1894-1914 Prelude: A Jewish Formation in Nationalist Dublin 1915-1921 Nationalist Awakening: A Republican Formation in Jewish Dublin, Revolutionary New York and Weimar Berlin 1922-1926 The Irish Tragedy: Internecine Civil War, Anti-Semitism, Exile and Wilderness 1927-1931 Republican Renaissance: Fianna Fáil and de Valera, the Voice of an Anti-Treaty Underclass 1932-1934 Zionist Awakening: The Nazi Machtergreifung and Jewish Persecution 1935-1937 Political Reality: Immigration Failure, League of Nations and the New Zionist Organisation (Revisionists) 1938-1939 Political Dichotomy, Parochial Anti-Semitism and Revisionist Apex: Dublin Exclusionism and Missions to Poland, America and South Africa 1940-1943 Political Retrenchment: Nationalist Reintegration and Zionist Withdrawal 1944-1953 Irreconcilable Differences: Financial Difficulties, the Holocaust and the Birth of Israel 1954-1969 Epilogue: A Political and Personal Swansong.