Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: May 6, 2021 at 7:35:16 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: McMicken on Klein, 'When the Irish Invaded > Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for > Ireland's Freedom' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Christopher Klein. When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible > True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland's > Freedom. New York Doubleday, 2019. x + 365 pp. $28.95 (cloth), > ISBN 978-0-385-54260-9. > > Reviewed by Robert W. McMicken (University of Arizona) > Published on H-War (May, 2021) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > During the 1860s and 1870s, Americans grappled with unspeakable > personal loss and political turbulence as they questioned and > contested their identities. As African Americans struggled to gain > and retain enfranchisement and civil rights during the Reconstruction > era, recent Irish immigrants to the United States reckoned with the > tug of roots and duty on both sides of the Atlantic. Christopher > Klein, a history writer who frequently contributes to History.com and > is the author of _Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, > America's First Sports Hero _(2013), examines the postbellum > zeitgeist of many Irish and Irish American republicans. In his 2019 > book, _When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of > the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland's Freedom_, Klein > challenges his readers to embrace an analysis of the period and of > the Fenian raids through transnational, diasporic, and diplomatic > lenses. > > While Irish immigrants fought for both Northern and Southern states > during the American Civil War, Klein argues that the war served as a > means of seasoning Irish republicans and members of the US-based > Fenian Brotherhood by offering an "opportunity to gain valuable > training for the eventual revolution ... in Ireland" (p. 35). Though > some Fenians advocated for waging war against the English in Ireland, > others believed that invading British Canada would provide sufficient > political leverage for negotiating Irish independence, while > simultaneously offering the pragmatic advantage of proximity. One > aggravating factor that Klein identifies is the narrow, but > significant, window of postbellum Anglophobia resulting from British > maritime interventions on behalf of the Confederacy. The geopolitical > tensions between the United States and the United Kingdom, Klein > asserts, helped generate at least tacit sympathy for the Fenians from > many constituencies previously harboring anti-Irish sentiments. The > short-lived Fenian victory at the 1866 Battle of Ridgeway in Ontario > against Canadian troops, Klein demonstrates, was a rallying point for > the Fenian Brotherhood: an Irish victory on British soil. Further, it > offered a broader American public a glimmer of revenge for the > anti-Union sympathies of the British. > > Despite the ultimate failures of the Fenian raids to accomplish much, > if any, of the strategic aims of the Fenian Brotherhood, they did, > Klein contends, crystallize support for confederation in Canada. The > move toward confederation effectively rendered any thoughts that the > US government had of annexing Canada impracticable. This is perhaps > one of Klein's strongest arguments in the text: that the > filibustering Fenians so engendered themselves as an unwelcome > presence in Canada that the same anti-confederation sentiment, upon > which Fenian leaders counted for the success of their invasion, > evaporated with their border crossing. > > Klein's narrative describes the organizational and logistical > dysfunction of the Fenian Brotherhood while colorfully humanizing the > figures emmeshed in the political machinations on both sides of the > Atlantic. With a significant measure of sympathy for the Fenians, > Klein deftly guides the reader through the ideological schisms and > disparate personalities all clamoring ultimately for the same goal: > an independent Ireland. Likewise, Klein highlights the political > divides in the Irish diaspora and the political manipulation of the > Fenian Brotherhood by both Democrats and Republicans to curry favor > with Irish constituencies. > > In crafting his narrative Klein draws upon a rich array of primary > and secondary sources. While Klein uses newspaper articles > extensively, he is also able to enrich the narrative with the > principals' own reflections through the memoirs and papers of James > Stephens, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, John O'Neill, British spy Henri > Le Caron, and Canadian spymaster Gilbert McMicken, among others. > Additionally, government documents and the papers of American, > British, and Canadian officials contribute to Klein's depictions of > high-level political reaction to the Fenians. > > The value of Klein's work also rests in its readability and > accessibility. The chronological presentation of the Irish republican > struggle allows the uninitiated reader to trace the evolution of the > challenges encountered by the Irish and the Irish diaspora in the > United States. The prose offers a journalistic perspicacity coupled > with a crisp communicative quality engaging to both academic and > non-academic readers. > > Klein's text excellently highlights the organizational disunity of > the Fenian Brotherhood, the ineptitude of any efforts to maintain > operational secrecy in its raiding expeditions, and its failures to > properly execute its lofty ideals. However, Klein's argument that > "the Fenian Brotherhood was a link in the chain of history that led > Irish republicans to ultimately topple the British lion" offers a > teleology that neglects the social refuge the Fenian Brotherhood > provided to Irish Americans encountering prejudice, or dislocated > Irish American veterans seeking comradery analogous to that found in > organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic (p. 278). Further, > while Klein's focus on key Fenian figures offers the reader a glimpse > of the Brotherhood from the upper echelons of leadership, the reader > might find figures like James Stephens, John O'Mahony, and John > O'Neill periodically transmogrified from political agents to tragic > heroes. > > In total, _When the Irish Invaded Canada_ is a valuable retelling of > Irish republican sentiment and the Fenian raids in the context of > Anglo-American diplomatic antipathy. As the United States was > struggling to reconstruct its own identity, Klein demonstrates that > the Irish Americans who had largely fought to secure the Union in the > American Civil War found disunion and division in their efforts to > establish an independent Ireland. > > Citation: Robert W. McMicken. Review of Klein, Christopher, _When the > Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War > Veterans Who Fought for Ireland's Freedom_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. > May, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56037 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8378): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8378 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82628174/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
