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60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lively PhD in Irish History, April 29, 2006
At the risk of understatement, "The Rebels of Ireland" is an epic novel, a big and bold production akin to the film spectaculars of Cecil B. DeMille's in the 50's. That Rutherfurd's saga of Ireland is spun from a passion for the Emerald Isle is evident, as the sheer length and detail will limit commercial success. But you need not be an aficionado of Irish history to appreciate and enjoy this grand tale. Picking up where the 2004 "The Princes of Ireland" leaves off, Rutherfurd takes us through generations of bitter religious conflict, wars, treachery, and famine, starting in 1597 and closing in the early 20th century. But it is by no means necessary to read "Princes" before tackling this one - the stories stand alone - and the author provides a helpful 15 page introduction bridging the preceding ten or twelve centuries. But "Rebels" is much richer than a mere historical chronicle. It is a vibrant, living, story of families and emotions, of trusts forged and broken. If history were an funereal, then this is definitely the Irish wake-version. Rutherfurd is often compared to Michener for all the right reasons, but I've found all of Rutherfurd's novels leaving Michener a bit dull and lifeless by comparison. In short, a mighty achievement of well-researched history brought to life in compelling and gripping fiction - a great novel to kick back and savor slowly over the course of a few weeks.
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61 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I come not to send peace, but a sword.", February 28, 2006
This is the most recent volume of Rutherfurd's Dublin Saga, the last of which, The Princes of Ireland, covered over a thousand years of Irish history as lived through the early ancestors of a group of families: the O"Byrne's, descended from the Kings of Ireland; the MacGowan's, craftsmen and merchants; the Harold's and the Doyle's, Viking families who settled and comprised a segment of the farmer and merchant classes; the Walshes, ancestors of Flemish knights who settled in Wales rather than continue on their journey; and the Tidy's, an assortment of craftsmen, merchants and local officials. Although this volume is weighty, Rutherfurd's particular talent in the telling of the past is the humanizing of his characters as they evolve, their fortunes changing with the centuries, Ireland transformed by the ripe opportunities offered to the new English settlers and the problems that ensue from the establishment of English colonies on Irish soil.
Historical fiction is at its most effective when the personal narratives of the characters offer insights into a country at a time when families' divided loyalties are caught in the juggernaut of a centuries-long conquest of Ireland by the English and the concomitant religious turmoil that ensues when Protestantism and Catholicism collide. The beleaguered island is not only the site of the great historical events portrayed in this novel, but also the smaller daily dramas of individuals shaped by the passions of their beliefs and a quest for freedom from oppression and religious tolerance at any cost. Sprinkled among the family dramas and political conflicts, are the more intimate details of men and women who want prosperity and security for their families, drawn by fate into the religious and political dynamic that so defines much of Irish history. These narratives are made memorable by the personal trials and tribulations of each family swept up in the turbulence of history.
In this volume, from the late 16th to the early 20th centuries, Ireland teems with ambitions, great and small, cataclysmic events and rebellions that redefine the face of a country whose great soul is the source of inspiration and myth, a vast mosaic of individuals who endure the inevitable, the deep scars of religious wars, the fortunes of peasant and aristocracy, medieval merchants and rebel sympathizers, anti-catholic penal laws, the great famine, intrusive governments, foreign invasions and a culture of gifted writers. The Rebels of Ireland is a remarkable achievement, sifting through the bounty and detritus of history, the result an engaging recreation of lives bound by grief and blood, political intrigues and the enduring spirit of patriotism. Luan Gaines/ 2006.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An ambitious effort to encapsulate over 2,000 years of one of the world's most colorful and contentious countries, March 27, 2006
The history of Ireland is one of literature's favorite themes. No country lends itself more to tales of mysticism, romance, heraldry, and fierce battles over land and ideology than this small, rocky island in the north Atlantic. The first thousand years of its turbulent history were covered in Edward Rutherfurd's THE PRINCES OF IRELAND, where he chronicled the mystical and tumultuous saga of the Irish High Kings, and the craftsmen, farmers and servant families who served them.
In THE REBELS OF IRELAND, Rutherfurd continues his sweeping saga, centered in Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains. The novel picks up after the ill-fated Irish Revolt of 1534, when British forces vanquished the ill-equipped Irish. The land grab begins as English yeomen are brought in to remove and replace Irishmen on the centuries-old land holds. Cromwell's cataclysmic invasion of minds and souls in the mid-1600s sets the stage for the religious conflicts that have shrouded Ireland's past and predestined its dark future in waves of savage war and tenuous peace, which continue into modern times.
In REBELS, the heirs to the High Kings and numerous other heirs of the early characters in PRINCES are followed through the struggles beginning in 1597 through the early 20th century. Rutherfurd pays particular attention to the era surrounding the infamous potato famine in the mid-1800s, resulting in the starvation of more than a million people and ultimately in the Irish Diaspora, which led several millions of Irish emigrants to the Continent, America and Australia.
An overarching theme is the role played in the subjugation by the British, not only in their attempt to grab Ireland's land, but to annihilate the Irish Catholics through literal starvation of the body as well as their minds. So long as they remained Catholic, they were denied the vote, not allowed schooling past early elementary school, and could not hold title to lands. Only through conversion to the Church of Ireland or Presbyterianism would they be allowed to elevate their position in life. This subjugation guaranteed that they would never hold more than menial jobs and be forever under the brutal heel of the aristocracy and British Ascendancy. The treatment paralleled the American conduct toward the American Indians and blacks of a similar period.
Rutherfurd's ambitious effort to encapsulate (if that is a proper description of two weighty novels encompassing over 2,000 years and nearly as many pages) one of the world's most colorful and contentious countries succeeds in the same way as his prior novels. As in SARUM, LONDON and THE FOREST, he uses a generational saga to focus his historical precision light on one place over many centuries.
For historical novel buffs, THE REBELS OF IRELAND weaves together the threads of the complicated tapestry that is Ireland into a more complete illustration. The complexities of the societal upheavals are clearly shown through the lives of the well-drawn characters through the generations. The novel ends with the rise of Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army in the 1920s.
The regrettable conflicts of the mid-20th century and the remarkable gains of the past two decades continue to fascinate historians. Perhaps it is too early to commit the modern history-making events in Ireland to anything but the front pages and the evening news. Nothing will relegate it to the dustbins of history, however. Some historian, be it Rutherfurd or another scribe, will surely look upon these two books as touchstones for presenting the last century when enough time has passed to see it in perspective.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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