Desmond's Rising: Memoirs 1913 to Easter 1916 - Softcover

Desmond FitzGerald

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7 ratings by Goodreads

9781905483051: Desmond's Rising: Memoirs 1913 to Easter 1916

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1905483058 ISBN 13: 9781905483051

Publisher: Liberties Press, 2006

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Urged on by friends, during the Second World War Desmond FitzGerald began writing about his experiences during the national movement for independence. The resulting book, covering the years from 1913 until just after the 1916 Easter Rising, remained unpublished until Garret FitzGerald found the manuscript in 1966. The book, here reissued as the first title in Liberties Press's 'Revival' series, opens with Desmond FitzGerald's recollections of the time he spent on the Great Blasket Island and his relocation from Brittany to Dingle with the objective of learning Irish and taking part in the emerging movement for Irish independence. Desmond's Rising charts Desmond's involvement in the Irish Volunteers and the IRB; his arrest and imprisonment in 1915-16; his involvement in the preparations for the Rising in Dublin; and his experiences in the GPO during the fateful Easter week of 1916. What strikes the reader most strongly is the unselfconscious heroism of those who took part in the Rising. This new edition features an updated foreword by former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald and correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and Desmond's wife Mabel, the republican daughter of a Presbyterian Belfast businessman. Also included here for the first time are various reflections on the Rising and its aftermath, a candid account of Desmond's time in Maidstone Gaol, some of Desmond's poems and a number of rare photographs from the time.

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Review:

'a beautifully written and thoughtful account of the period up to Easter 1916 ... FitzGerald's account of Easter week in the GPO is wonderfully evocative.' --Irish Times

'a unique take on that era and the events leading up to Easter Week. It describes in an intimate, very human and often gently humorous manner the build-up to the Rising and its immediate aftermath as experienced by FitzGerald during the years he lived in west Kerry and later in Wicklow.' --Books Ireland

'It is interesting to read such a personal view of the events of Easter Week ... FitzGerald ... managed to retain a sense of humour and an honesty as to his own actions, both characteristics which add greatly to the narrative.... The focus of the memoir, and its obvious attention to the truth, shows us the events of the week far more clearly than many of the history books of the period.' --Irish Emigrant Online

About the Author:

Desmond FitzGerald was born in London in 1888 and was a member of the Imagist group of poets in London. He joined the Volunteers at their formation in 1913 and was their organiser in west Kerry and in Wicklow. Imprisoned for seditious speech in 1915, he was a member of the GPO garrison and subsequently spent two years in English prisons. He was the D�il Government's Director of Propaganda until he was arrested once more in early 1921. He became the new State's first Minister for External Affairs, and later Minister for Defence until 1932.

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