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1798 - best book on the rebellion

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  • 16-02-2013 12:04am
    #1
    del_c
    Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭


    Hi-I'm on the lookout for a good book about the above. None of the titles I've come across seem overly convincing - has anyone any recommendations?


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    #2
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    "Memoirs of the Different Rebellions in Ireland" (1801) Richard Musgrave while quite biased is full of statistics collected at the time and is the best primary source material available. Reprinted in 1995 - don't be caught by the recent rubbish print-on-demand versions. £ 50.00 and less on Abebooks and worth every penny.

    4668123674.jpg


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    #3
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    I agree with JD that Musgrave's text is one of the most authoritative.
    However, in the interest of balance, I would recommend these two from the rebels' viewpoint;

    'Memoirs of Miles Byrne'     Vol 1 - Dublin 1907

    'Memoirs of Joseph Holt    ' Vol 1 - London 1838 (ed. T.Crofton Croker)

    Other worthwhile texts include;

    'The United Irishmen their Lives and Times    ' Richard R. Madden - London, 1860.

    'The War in Wexford'     H.F.B.Wheeler & A.M.Broadley - London/New York, 1910

    'A Narrative of the Sufferings and Escape of Charles Jackson'     - Oxford, 1802

    'A History of the Rise, Progress, and Suppression of the Rebellion...1798' George Taylor - Dublin, 1829

    All of the above are freely available online to read or download.
    The Internet Archive is a magnificent resource.


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    #4
    Judgement Day
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    I agree with you slowburner with the exception of 'The Memoirs of Miles Byrne' which were written many years later (pub.1863) with the benefit of hindsight and a professional military career behind him.

    Another useful book would be 'Rebellions: Memoir, Memory and 1798' by Tom Dunne which gives an extensive bibliography of all previously published material. Daniel Gahan's book 'The People's Rising: Wexford 1798' is also excellent and extends beyond its title.


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    #5
    GRMA
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,417 ✭✭✭GRMA


    R.R Maddens book is very very good, many subsequent works draw heavily on that.

    Thomas Pakenham's "The Year of Liberty" is useful enough too

    There is no definitive book really.

    I really recommend Patrick M.Geoghegan's book "Robert Emmet: A Life". It's absolutely brilliant and is imo, the definitive work on Robert Emmet and the 1803 rising. While not exactly about 1798 I don't think you can talk about one and not the other.


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