The Green Flag: A history of Irish nationalism [Paperback]

Robert Kee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2001

"The Green Flag" stands as the most comprehensive and illuminating history of Irish Nationalism yet published. For many years available as three separate volumes ("The Most Distressful Country", The Bold Fenian Men" and "Ourselves Alone"), this outstanding history is now available as a single volume.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Industry, insight, and massive research . . . enjoyably written. -- The New York Times

About the Author

Robert Kee lives in London SE5. He is a distinguished historian and broadcaster. Penguin also publish THE LAUREL AND THE IVY, Robert Kee's acclaimed life of Parnell.

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140291652
• ISBN-13: 978-0140291650
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #671,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books on Irish Political History-Ever, September 7, 2001

By 

Jeffery E. Mcculloh (Harvard, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Green Flag: A history of Irish nationalism (Paperback)

This is a famous and well reputed book. It has been in print now for almost 30 years-deservedly so I might add. I suspect it will still be in print another 30 years from now.
Robert Kee was a journalist and a famous World War 2 P.O.W. escapee. He writes lucidly and with great style, eloquence even. Yet above all his books are a darn good read. This book is vividly written, fleshed out with characters and facts that are dispassionatly but richly detailed.
This book follows the course of Irish nationalism from the distant past of the Tudor wars and Anglo-Scottish Settlements up through the rise of DeVelera.
Its true strength is in parts two and three which recount, in great detail, the growth of Irish nationalist sentiment (and rebellion) and land reform/Catholic emancipation, during the 19th Century. Kee demonstrates clearly the ever so slight, but vital, strand of personal connection that linked Wolfe Tones' United Irishmen to Emmet, Parnell, the Fenians and eventually the I.R.A..
Part three details the rise of the Nationalist cause in the wake of Parnell's fall and the rise of the I.R.B./I.R.A. in the late Victorian era up through the Civil war of the 1920s. This book painted very clearly the horror of the Black and Tan war as well as the subsequently even more nasty Irish civil war.
Up until the 1970s a great many people in Ireland would not even speak to each other because of the bitterness engendered by the latter conflict. It spawned Ireland's two major parties and the emotions, recriminations and even hatred caused by the Collins/DeVelera conflict still has significant effect today. This era also shaped the course of the present day three I.R.A.s (Provisional,"Real" and "Stickie").
This book does not deal with the Present Ulster 'troubles' at all. But you can not understand them, nor modern Ireland without reading this book.
Above all, this book was written in a 'neutral' fashion, by an outsider, who deeply loved his subject. It lacks the usual bombast of many other slanted histories. At the same time none of the drama, emotion, glory nor hatred are lost in the telling.
To illustrate what I mean by the above review: in 1987 I asked a series of Irish politicians of all persuasions what history book would still be in print in 2037 and what volumes would they use if they had to teach Irish history to a class at Harvard. Every politician (except the Rev.Ian Paisley) mentioned this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my Favorite, December 14, 2010

By 

Molly (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Green Flag: A history of Irish nationalism (Paperback)

I have read a number of Irish History books and this one is definitely not one of my favorites. I had heard people praise it for it's narrative style, but I really didn't enjoy it. It is set up like a novel, which gives the illusion of a narrative (long chapters w/out sections or headers), but it is too dense for this sort of structure. The amount of information covered almost requires more divisions within the content as well as other structural changes.

It has most all the information, just structure was not ideal.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wealth of research, easy to read..., July 17, 2008

By 

Earnan (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Green Flag: A history of Irish nationalism (Paperback)

A wealth of information and a lifetime of research went into this trilogy of volumes covering Irish Nationalism up to the formation of the Free State and settlement of the Border Commission. The amount of heroism, suffering, waste, and tragedy chronicled in this book is astonishing and often moving.

Kee, a former RAF officer and an Englishmen, certainly has his biases as do all authors. His description of the Easter Rebellion and it's aftermath are indicative of this. He doesn't seem to understand or adequately explain why the masses of Catholic Ireland treated these rebels as heroes and martyrs so soon after their executions.

In general, his main theme is that the problem with the British rule of Ireland wasn't that they treated the Irish as an inferior race or that they did not care about their problems, it's simply that they ignored the problems of the Irish until it was too late to avoid yet another rebellion or crisis. That is one take on the sad history of misgovernment, and one that I don't agree with. The British Empire viewed Ireland as a colony, and only thought of it in terms of how it could benefit England and the Crown. The poverty of the native people, their aspirations for freedom, their desire to choose their own government, etc... these were all things that didn't register with the ruling elite in London. They only paid attention when the Irish people gave them no choice, as would happen from time to time.

Due to the narrative being extremely well written and well researched, it deserves a solid 4 stars. It is an invaluable book which covers the confusing evolution of Irish nationalism from the birth of United Irishmen to the atrocities of the Civil War. I find myself going back to it from time to time, sometimes for reference and sometimes for pleasure. Though Kee tends to repeatedly downplay nationalism and later republicanism as legitimate (if chaotic and at times incoherent) mass movements, it is still a book that any student or enthusiast needs to have.

*One caveat to add is that this book was published in 1972, thus missing out on the last 40 years of research on the subject.