Robert Briscoe: Sinn Féin Revolutionary, Fianna Fáil Nationalist and Revisionist Zionist

by Kevin McCarthy

This biography reveals the full significance of Robert Briscoe’s influence within the contentious political culture of the early Irish state, as well as reinforcing his importance to the global Zionist rescue effort of the 1930s. Drawing on a wealth of previously unavailable archival material, the book charts Briscoe’s evolution from a fringe Sinn Féin activist in 1917 to a member of Michael Collins’s personal staff in 1921. It also analyses his agonizing decision to abandon Collins and support the anti-Treaty stance of his close friend and political hero, Éamon de Valera, before becoming a founding member of Fianna Fáil in 1926. Most importantly of all, the book investigates Briscoe’s evolving Jewish awareness, looking at his involvement in a traumatic immigration endeavour and also at his engagement with Ze’ev Jabotinsky and the New Zionist Organisation, under whose auspices he led political rescue missions to Poland, America and South Africa.

275 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2015

About the author

Kevin McCarthy is the author of the highly acclaimed historical crime novel, 'Peeler' (Mercier Press, 2010). Called a '...dark, brooding, morally complex masterpiece...' by the Belfast Telegraph, 'Peeler' was selected by the Irish Times as one of its Top Ten Thrillers of 2010 and as a Read of the Year 2010 by the Philadelphia Inquirer. His short story "Twenty-five and Out" appears in 'Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century'. Kevin's second novel, 'Irregulars', is published by New Island Books and was shortlisted for the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year 2013. His novel, 'Wolves of Eden', published by W.W. Norton, was selected by Amazon as one of its 20 Best Books 2018. His latest novel, 'The Wintering Place' (W.W. Norton, 2022), a follow up to The Wolves of Eden, was selected by Amazon as one of its 20 Best Books of the Month, November 2022. He is represented by Jonathan Williams Literary Agency.

Reviews

[Emma Ní Muirthile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful look into the life of one of Ireland’s ‘hidden gems’.

Indeed, this book, through the author’s access of some of Briscoe’s personal archives and papers, gives an extraordinary account of the life of Bob Briscoe, especially when compared to his sometimes overly romanticised ‘autobiography’ (which is still deserving of a read!).

Regardless of your interest in Jewish Ireland, it’s well worth a look through if you’re interested in the politics of the early free state / newly formed republic.

Very rarely, it feels a tad monotonous, but the biography is worth sticking with.

McCarthy is able to capture the life of one of Ireland’s most famous Jews, in an a manner that is both objective, and full of respect for this infamous TD.

[Kevin McCarthy]

As the author of this biography, just wanted to point out that it is erroneously attributed to a different Kevin McCarthy, who is unlike me, an author of historical fiction and not of empirical biography.