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The Green Flag #3
Ourselves Alone
The present volume, Ourselves Alone, is concerned with the modern growth of that extreme Irish republicanism which won freedom from British rule for twenty-six counties of Ireland in 1921, and which today pursues the same goal for all Ireland in the remaining six. The narrative begins with the aftermath of the Dublin rebellion of 1916.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
37 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kee
57 books12 followersRobert Kee, CBE was a broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland.
He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.
During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.
In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.
He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham, and read history at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a pupil, then a friend, of the historian A.J.P. Taylor.
During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. His Hampden was shot down by flak one night while on a mine-laying operation off the coast of German-occupied Holland. He was imprisoned and spent three years in a German POW camp. This gave him material for his first book A Crowd Is Not Company. It was first published as a novel in 1947 but was later revealed to be an autobiography. It recounts his experiences as a prisoner of war and his various escapes from the Nazi camp. The Times describes it as "arguably the best POW book ever written."
His career in journalism began immediately after the Second World War. He worked for the Picture Post, then later became a special correspondent for The Sunday Times and The Observer. He was also literary editor of The Spectator.
In 1958 he moved to television. He appeared for many years on both the BBC and ITV as reporter, interviewer and presenter. He presented many current affairs programmes including Panorama, ITN's First Report and Channel 4's Seven Days. He was awarded the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award in 1976.
Kee wrote and presented the documentary series Ireland – A Television History in 1980. The work was widely shown in the United Kingdom and the United States and received great critical acclaim, winning the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Following its transmission on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, Kee won a Jacob's Award for his script and presentation.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 16, 2023
There was a really good quote somewhere in this book about how the war of myth VS the war of reality were always raging in the Irish consciousness and I was gonna put it in this review but now I can’t find it. Now it is my task to find out what happened after the 20’s, what the Good Friday Agreement was, and how Margaret Thatcher’s trifling ass factors into all this because I heard it does!
June 27, 2021
The third volume of Kee’s trilogy about the history of Irish Nationalism traces the birth and development of Sinn Fein. It is a bloody story of courage and sometimes misguided zealotry.
Kee has done a remarkably unbiased job of telling the Irish story without judgement. As an Englishman he would be forgiven for concentrating on the seemingly unnecessary violence of the Irish rebellions. The reader will end up coming to his own conclusions about this. It is an unfortunate fact that in order to establish a new, independent nation a certain amount of bloodshed is always required.
The narrative is well organized and paced. Kee delves into the motivations of the individual participants and shows that these motivations and internal rivalries in many cases made the struggle more violent than it needed to be.
The trilogy is recommended to anyone who wants to gain more than a superficial understanding of this definitive chapter in Irish history.
Kee has done a remarkably unbiased job of telling the Irish story without judgement. As an Englishman he would be forgiven for concentrating on the seemingly unnecessary violence of the Irish rebellions. The reader will end up coming to his own conclusions about this. It is an unfortunate fact that in order to establish a new, independent nation a certain amount of bloodshed is always required.
The narrative is well organized and paced. Kee delves into the motivations of the individual participants and shows that these motivations and internal rivalries in many cases made the struggle more violent than it needed to be.
The trilogy is recommended to anyone who wants to gain more than a superficial understanding of this definitive chapter in Irish history.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews