The News from Ireland: Foreign Correspondents and the Irish Revolution - Hardcover

Maurice Walsh

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184511714X ISBN 13: 9781845117146

Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2008

Synopsis

The Anglo-Irish war of 1919-1921 was an international historical landmark: the first successful revolution against British rule and the beginning of the end of the Empire. But the Irish revolutionaries did not win their struggle on the battlefield - their key victory was in mobilising public opinion in Britain and the rest of the world. Journalists and writers flocked to Ireland, where the increasingly brutal conflict was seen as the crucible for settling some of the key issues of the new world order emerging from the ruins of the First World War. On trial was the British Empire s claim to be the champion of civilisation as well as the principle of self-determination proclaimed by the American president Woodrow Wilson. The News from Ireland vividly explores the work of British and American correspondents in Ireland as well as other foreign journalists and literary figures. It offers a penetrating and persuasive assessment of the Irish revolution s place in a key moment of world history as well as the role of the press and journalism in the conflict. This important book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Irish history and how our understanding of history generally is shaped by the media. 'A very valuable contribution to our understanding of the factors that led to the British decision to...negotiate with the Dail Government.' - Garret FitzGerald; 'A very fine piece of work indeed - tremendously readable and very insightful. Walsh's breadth of reference and reading made the judgements well founded, making the reader see things he hadn't before.' - John Lloyd, Contributing Editor of the Financial Times and Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University; 'Original and wide-ranging...Walsh writes evocatively of the golden age of special correspondents' - Eunan O'Halpin, The Irish Times; 'a great story which, up to now, has been omitted from the national narrative. Its scrupulous, annotated research combines with a readable prose that will appeal to a wider audience than historians and journalists alone.' - Sunday Tribune, Dublin; 'an excellent study of the treatment of the War of Independence and Civil War by the British and international media' - Martin Mansergh, Minister for the Arts, Irish government; 'A fascinating account of war reporting during a colonial conflict with interesting parallels to the US experience in Vietnam. The historical detail is rich and engaging, and Walsh's analysis of the journalists' ambivalent relationship to nationalism and the political dynamics of media management in a colonial war is very insightful. This is an important contribution to journalism history with wide importance for the study of war reporting.' - Dan Hallin, University of California, San Diego; 'a gem of a book, scholarly, beautifully written and narrated with verve' - David Gardner, Financial Times; 'incisive and highly readable' - Clair Wills, History Today; '...admirably accessible. Walsh's analysis is sophisticated and thought-provoking, and is supported by a wide reading of Irish, American and British newspaper history...The News from Ireland will be read with interest by any scholar of...colonial wars and counter-insurgencies that have occurred in any past or present empire.' - Media History; '[M]ethodologically innovative and intellectually rigorous in its pursuit and handling of an extraordinarily wide range of material...explores the mind-sets of journalists, editors and politicians with impressive insight...Dr Walsh's book has implications and insights which will be continually relevant both for journalism and for the conduct of public life in an uncertain and violent age.' - John Horgan, Journalism Practice

About this title

Review:

''The News from Ireland' fills an important gap in our understanding of the Irish revolutionary period during which the battle for public opinion was essential. It provides the context in which journalists, both British and American, worked, and provides an extraordinary insight into how the Irish managed and the British mis-managed the press. The close study of the personalities involved and the intimate knowledge of how foreign correspondents saw their role in the period after the First World War make this an invaluable book.' --Colm Tóibín

'a suggestive, original and elegantly written study... It is also a marvellous portrait of journalists at work, deftly deploying a star cast and providing a thoughtful analysis of the politics of publicity.' --Roy Foster, TLS 'Books of the Year'

'Maurice Walsh has written a fascinating and thoughtful book. His story of the relationship between journalists and government during a guerrilla war more than 80 years ago is one that few of us know and that has much relevance to understanding the parallel issues during the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.' --Adam Hochschild, author of 'King Leopold's Ghost'

About the Author:

Maurice Walsh grew up in Co. Tipperary and has been a foreign correspondent in Central and South America. An award-winning documentary maker, he has reported for the BBC from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the United States and Europe. His essays, reviews and reportage have appeared in The Dublin Review, the London Review of Books, the New Statesman, the TLS and many other newspapers and magazines. He holds a PhD from the University of London and in 2001 was a Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.

About this edition

• Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 184511714X
• ISBN 13: 9781845117146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240