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Loading... The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero (original 2016; edition 2016)by Timothy Egan (Author)
Work InformationThe Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan (2016)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Thomas Francis Meagher was an Irish revolutionary who as a young man spoke out against Britain during the Great Hunger of the 1840s. This led to his arrest and his banishment to a Tasmanian prison colony. He miraculously escaped from the island and ended up in New York. He became an activist there too and ended up leading an Irish Union brigade during the Civil War. I consider myself fairly well-read, but I don’t remember ever reading about Meagher before. Egan is one of my favorite nonfiction writers and he really delivers a gem with this one. Thoroughly engaging from beginning to end. This one took me three months to listen to. I kept getting interrupted. I finally finished it in the middle of the pandemic. I had never heard of Thomas Francis Meagher, so it was a delight to learn more about him, even though his life seem to be one big battle with the world. Well written and narrated. A biography of Thomas F. Meagher, whose colorful life included designing the Irish tricolor flag; being sentenced to death for treason (by hanging, drawing and quartering, commuted to transportation to Tasmania for life); escape to the United States; admission to the bar; marriage to a socialite (who was then disinherited); serving as a general of the Irish Brigade in the Union Army; and Acting Governor of Montana Territory. Being of Irish descent, author Timothy Egan doesn’t hide his sympathy and admiration for Meagher – and Meagher’s certainly deserving of both. However, Egan’s argument that Meagher’s death was a murder rests on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. An easy and entertaining read otherwise. no reviews | add a review
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"From the National Book Award-winning and best-selling author Timothy Egan comes the epic story of one of the most fascinating and colorful Irishman in nineteenth-century America. The Irish-American story, with all its twists and triumphs, is told through the improbable life of one man. A dashing young orator during the Great Famine of the 1840s, in which a million of his Irish countrymen died, Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against British rule, for which he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony. He escaped and six months later was heralded in the streets of New York--the revolutionary hero, back from the dead, at the dawn of the great Irish immigration to America. Meagher's rebirth in America included his leading the newly formed Irish Brigade from New York in many of the fiercest battles of the Civil War--Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg. Twice shot from his horse while leading charges, left for dead in the Virginia mud, Meagher's dream was that Irish-American troops, seasoned by war, would return to Ireland and liberate their homeland from British rule. The hero's last chapter, as territorial governor of Montana, was a romantic quest for a true home in the far frontier. His death has long been a mystery to which Egan brings haunting, colorful new evidence"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)355.0092Social sciences Public Administration, Military Science Military Science Biography And History BiographyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This book reads like an adventure story, with Egan bringing history to life in an entertaining way. Not only do we find out what Meagher did during his eventful life, but also key elements of his character, making it easy to infer why he made certain choices. The author presents his theory, grounded in eye witness accounts, as to what happened to Thomas Meagher at the end of his life. Too much time has passed to know for sure, but he makes an interesting case. Recommended to history buffs. Contains grisly descriptions of what happened to soldiers during the Civil War and to victims of lawlessness in the Montana Territory. ( )