Irish Nationalists and the Making of the Irish Race

Bruce Nelson

May 2012 · Princeton University Press

About this eBook

This is a book about Irish nationalism and how Irish nationalists developed their own conception of the Irish race. Bruce Nelson begins with an exploration of the discourse of race--from the nineteenth--century belief that "race is everything" to the more recent argument that there are no races. He focuses on how English observers constructed the "native" and Catholic Irish as uncivilized and savage, and on the racialization of the Irish in the nineteenth century, especially in Britain and the United States, where Irish immigrants were often portrayed in terms that had been applied mainly to enslaved Africans and their descendants.


Most of the book focuses on how the Irish created their own identity--in the context of slavery and abolition, empire, and revolution. Since the Irish were a dispersed people, this process unfolded not only in Ireland, but in the United States, Britain, Australia, South Africa, and other countries. Many nationalists were determined to repudiate anything that could interfere with the goal of building a united movement aimed at achieving full independence for Ireland. But others, including men and women who are at the heart of this study, believed that the Irish struggle must create a more inclusive sense of Irish nationhood and stand for freedom everywhere. Nelson pays close attention to this argument within Irish nationalism, and to the ways it resonated with nationalists worldwide, from India to the Caribbean.

Ratings and reviews

Colin Flaherty received numerous accolades for his work in mainstream journalism, and now conducts a weekly radio program with his brother in which they view politics from a left-right divide. In addition, Colin just wrote a book that is not about its seeming topic. From first glance, this book would appear to be about race riots, and while it documents them well, the real purpose of this book is to ask Americans what’s wrong with us. Why can’t we talk honestly about this situation, why can’t we talk honestly about race, and why does our media avoid mention of necessary facts? Flaherty works his magic by creating a fact pattern out of many disparate news articles, which he then compares to YouTube footage of the event, showing us what actually happened. As this is an e-book, you can follow the links yourself, which is what this book challenges you to do. He does not ever stray into racism — at all. He does not blame African-Americans, or anyone else, for this spate of black on women, homosexuals, Asians and whites. He simply points out that it is occurring and that it upsets all Americans and weakens our faith in our media, who are brushing it under the rug. Writing in clear and sometimes sarcastic prose, Flaherty speaks from his strength, which is understanding media. He links together abundant citations, all from mainstream media and many from African-American media, in order to illustrate his point.

About the author

Bruce Nelson is professor emeritus of history at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Divided We Stand: American Workers and the Struggle for Black Equality (Princeton) and Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s.