Review

In barely two hundred pages, Brundage's book, with thoroughness and readability, covers a lot of ground....Brundage...[gives] laudable attention to the importance of women...in the development and propagation of the idea of Irish nationalism...His book comes close to being an intellectual history or at least a social history of ideas....Moreover, it provides the author the opportunity to develop an interesting sub-theme: the contest―and sometimes the alternation―between ideas about 'physical force' nationalism and more political 'constitutional' nationalism., Dale T. Knobel, Journal of American History



[C]oncise but substantive ...Brundage's most significant contribution goes beyond cataloging the campaigns waged by transatlantic activists. As a whole, his narrative implicitly challenges recent works that dismiss Irish American nationalism, and ethnicity itself, as inauthentic and implicitly racist ...[T]his is a convincing account of the way in which diasporic national-ism could serve as a unifying cause rather than a splintering distraction for those on the margins of American society. As such, Irish Nationalism in America deserves a place of pride on American history book-shelves as well as Irish ones., Matthew O'Brien, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies



In this concise but substantive work, historian David Brundage examines the protean subject of Irish American nationalism in a thorough and judicious manner... Is a convincing account of the way in which diasporic nationalism could serve as a unifying cause rather than a splintering distraction for those on the margins of American society. As such, Irish Nationalism in America deserves a place of pride on American history bookshelves as well as Irish ones., Matthew O'Briens (Franciscan University of Steubenville), The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies



[A] tightly written and finely researched volume....[A]n outstanding model of transnational scholarship that will impress not only scholars of Ireland and Irish America but also those seeking to understand the dynamics of diaspora or long-distance nationalism more generally., William Jenkins, Journal of American Ethnic History



[P]rovides ample stimulus for students of Irish as well as American history....Kevin Kenny predicted in print, at an early stage of its composition, that Brundage's book 'promises to be one of the most important works in the field'. How right he was., J. J. Lee, English Historical Review



In barely two hundred pages, Brundage's book, with thoroughness and readability, covers a lot of ground....Brundage...[gives] laudable attention to the importance of women...in the development and propagation of the idea of Irish nationalism...His book comes close to being an intellectual history or at least a social history of ideas....Moreover, it provides the author the opportunity to develop an interesting sub-theme: the contest - and sometimes the alternation - between ideas about 'physical force' nationalism and more political 'constitutional' nationalism., Dale T. Knobel, Journal of American History



[C]oncise but substantive....Brundage's most significant contribution goes beyond cataloging the campaigns waged by transatlantic activists. As a whole, his narrative implicitly challenges recent works that dismiss Irish American nationalism, and ethnicity itself, as inauthentic and implicitly racist....[T]his is a convincing account of the way in which diasporic national-ism could serve as a unifying cause rather than a splintering distraction for those on the margins of American society. As such, Irish Nationalism in America deserves a place of pride on American history book-shelves as well as Irish ones., Matthew O'Brien, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies



[A] sharp and well-written book, and the narrative that Brundage tells is compelling and neatly contextualised by shorter sections on political developments in Ireland itself. He forces us to appreciate the ways in which nationalism was perceived, not unjustly, as a liberating force by many in the 19th century without himself succumbing to romanticisation., David Sim, Reviews in History



David Brundage's Irish Nationalists in America is an excellent survey of how Irish nationalists within the United States played an important role in developments on both sides of the Atlantic....Throughout the book, Brundage explores the diversity in Irish American nationalists' views....An impressive achievement. My students will be reading it for many semesters to come., John Day Tully, American Historical Review



This beautifully and concisely written book marks key phases in Irish American history, and Brundage navigates his way through the maze of organisations in a clear and focused manner. As Matilda Tone once did for her husband, this public act of publishing and remembering history puts different eras in context so that all of the histories fall into place and make sense., Una Ni Bhroimeil, History

About the Author

David Brundage is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of The Making of Western Labor Radicalism: Denver's Organized Workers, 1878-1905 and co-author of Who Built America?: Working People and the Nation's Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society.