Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923

The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890–1923

Nonfiction, History, Ireland
Cover of the book Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923 by R. F. Foster, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: R. F. Foster ISBN: 9780393245929
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: January 26, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: R. F. Foster
ISBN: 9780393245929
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: January 26, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

A masterful history of Ireland’s Easter Rising told through the lives of ordinary people who forged a revolutionary generation.

On Easter Monday, 1916, Irish rebels poured into Dublin’s streets to proclaim an independent republic. Ireland’s long struggle for self-government had suddenly become a radical and bloody fight for independence from Great Britain. Irish nationalists mounted a week-long insurrection, occupying public buildings and creating mayhem before the British army regained control. The Easter Rising provided the spark for the Irish revolution, a turning point in the violent history of Irish independence.

In this highly original history, acclaimed scholar R. F. Foster explores the human dimension of this pivotal event. He focuses on the ordinary men and women, Yeats’s “vivid faces,” who rose “from counter or desk among grey / Eighteenth-century houses” and took to the streets. A generation made, not born, they rejected the inherited ways of the Church, their bourgeois families, and British rule. They found inspiration in the ideals of socialism and feminism, in new approaches to love, art, and belief.

Drawing on fresh sources, including personal letters and diaries, Foster summons his characters to life. We meet Rosamond Jacob, who escaped provincial Waterford for bustling Dublin. On a jaunt through the city she might visit a modern art gallery, buy cigarettes, or read a radical feminist newspaper. She could practice the Irish language, attend a lecture on Freud, or flirt with a man who would later be executed for his radical activity. These became the roots of a rich life of activism in Irish and women’s causes.

Vivid Faces shows how Rosamond and her peers were galvanized to action by a vertiginous sense of transformation: as one confided to his diary, “I am changing and things around me change.” Politics had fused with the intimacies of love and belief, making the Rising an event not only of the streets but also of the hearts and minds of a generation.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A masterful history of Ireland’s Easter Rising told through the lives of ordinary people who forged a revolutionary generation.

On Easter Monday, 1916, Irish rebels poured into Dublin’s streets to proclaim an independent republic. Ireland’s long struggle for self-government had suddenly become a radical and bloody fight for independence from Great Britain. Irish nationalists mounted a week-long insurrection, occupying public buildings and creating mayhem before the British army regained control. The Easter Rising provided the spark for the Irish revolution, a turning point in the violent history of Irish independence.

In this highly original history, acclaimed scholar R. F. Foster explores the human dimension of this pivotal event. He focuses on the ordinary men and women, Yeats’s “vivid faces,” who rose “from counter or desk among grey / Eighteenth-century houses” and took to the streets. A generation made, not born, they rejected the inherited ways of the Church, their bourgeois families, and British rule. They found inspiration in the ideals of socialism and feminism, in new approaches to love, art, and belief.

Drawing on fresh sources, including personal letters and diaries, Foster summons his characters to life. We meet Rosamond Jacob, who escaped provincial Waterford for bustling Dublin. On a jaunt through the city she might visit a modern art gallery, buy cigarettes, or read a radical feminist newspaper. She could practice the Irish language, attend a lecture on Freud, or flirt with a man who would later be executed for his radical activity. These became the roots of a rich life of activism in Irish and women’s causes.

Vivid Faces shows how Rosamond and her peers were galvanized to action by a vertiginous sense of transformation: as one confided to his diary, “I am changing and things around me change.” Politics had fused with the intimacies of love and belief, making the Rising an event not only of the streets but also of the hearts and minds of a generation.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book New Mexico: A History by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Headwaters: Poems by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Gone So Long: A Novel by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book A Human Eye: Essays on Art in Society, 1996-2008 by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Court-Martial: How Military Justice Has Shaped America from the Revolution to 9/11 and Beyond by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Miscreants: Poems by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Servants of the Map: Stories by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Making Classrooms Better: 50 Practical Applications of Mind, Brain, and Education Science by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book The Passion of Reverend Nash: A Novel by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Master and Commander (Vol. Book 1) by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950 by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy by R. F. Foster
Cover of the book What Philosophy Can Do by R. F. Foster
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy