Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 [Paperback]

Peter De Rosa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 1992

"A WORK OF GREAT DRAMATIC POWER climaxing in the final hundred pages where he writes a full, searing narrative of the patriot leaders' last days . . . It's powerful stuff."
--The Sunday Press (Ireland)

On Easter Monday of 1916, a thousand Irish men and women, armed with pikes and rifles, took over the center of Dublin and proclaimed a republic. It was a rash, doomed, symbolic uprising, and the rebel leaders knew it. Crack British troops killed and wounded hundreds of the rebels in the week of fighting, and British artillery shells left Dublin's city center in ruins.

But the Rising of 1916 was not in vain. The short-lived insurrection and the subsequent executions of sixteen rebel leaders galvanized the Irish people. The overthrow of seven centuries of British rule in Ireland began on Easter Monday, 1916.

In Rebels, Peter de Rosa, author of the bestselling Vicars of Christ, tells the story of the 1916 Rising in all its terror and beauty. With the dramatic flair of a novelist and the scrupulous accuracy of a professional historian, de Rosa brings to life the people, passions, politics, and repercussions of this historic event.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Surely Christ never died for this people!" moaned labor leader James Connolly as mobs looted Dublin during the abortive 1916 Irish uprising against British rule. Connolly, a Scottish-born Marxist, and a handful of fellow rebels understood they might be signing their death warrant when they proclaimed Ireland an independent republic amid the chaos of WW I. In De Rosa's ( Vicars of Christ ) spellbinding epic narrative, studded with a cast of some 50 principal characters, the insurrection unfolds with the inevitability of a Greek tragedy. The ending is foreshadowed when arms-runner Sir Roger Casement, a former British consular official, piloted a German submarine to Irish shores. This stunningly dramatic, lyrical work (including a list of dramatis personae) helps one fathom the depths of the Irish passion to eject the British from Ireland. Events encompass enough intrigue, espionage, secret missions, heroism and suspense to fill several international thrillers. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

"A WORK OF GREAT DRAMATIC POWER climaxing in the final hundred pages where he writes a full, searing narrative of the patriot leaders' last days . . . It's powerful stuff."
--The Sunday Press (Ireland)

On Easter Monday of 1916, a thousand Irish men and women, armed with pikes and rifles, took over the center of Dublin and proclaimed a republic. It was a rash, doomed, symbolic uprising, and the rebel leaders knew it. Crack British troops killed and wounded hundreds of the rebels in the week of fighting, and British artillery shells left Dublin's city center in ruins.

But the Rising of 1916 was not in vain. The short-lived insurrection and the subsequent executions of sixteen rebel leaders galvanized the Irish people. The overthrow of seven centuries of British rule in Ireland began on Easter Monday, 1916.

In Rebels, Peter de Rosa, author of the bestselling Vicars of Christ, tells the story of the 1916 Rising in all its terror and beauty. With the dramatic flair of a novelist and the scrupulous accuracy of a professional historian, de Rosa brings to life the people, passions, politics, and repercussions of this historic event.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 18, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449906825
• ISBN-13: 978-0449906828
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid, March 10, 2000

By 

Thomas Walsh - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 (Paperback)

I have never read a history book that was more moving or more realistic (and I was a history major.) Afterwards I traveled to Dublin just to see Kilmainham Gaol. The book was so realistic that the Gaol was horribly familiar to me. Buy the book and read it. You'd be hard pressed to find a better book. Better yet, buy a dozen copies and give them out to your friends.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A movie screenplay begging to be filmed, July 16, 2004

By 

M. Veiluva "sputnik99" (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 (Paperback)

De Rosa's "Rebels" is simply one of the best historical books I have ever read, period. Some have criticised it for adopting a novelized approach, with plenty of dialogue, but as popular history, the result is a suspenseful buildup to the Great Easter Rising of 1916, and its brutal extermination by the British Army.

The success of the book is the care that De Rosa takes to develop his characters, including the ill-fated Casement, the rabble-rousing socialist Connelly, schoolmaster Patrick Pearse, Tom Clarke, and the dozen or so key leaders of the uprising. Most were executed within days of the suppression to the outcry of liberal MPs in London, and became martyrs to Irish freedom.

Someone seriously needs to turn this book into a screenplay, which would be a far more dramatic tale than "Michael Collins", particularly since the politics of the April 24 rebellion were far less complex than the civil war that is hopelessly glossed over in "Collins" The wedding of one of the uprising's leaders in his cell before his execution was heartbreaking even in print.

The book is a great read even without a background in Irish history.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling Account, November 19, 2002

By 

Paul J. Ditz (Shelby, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 (Paperback)

Although many would criticize this "history" for it's fictionalized conversations and encounters, Peter de Rosa sets forth a fairly accurate and moving account of the events of Easter Week 1916. DeRosa uses the fictionalized conversations to bring alive the characters involved in the events, and does an admirable job in capturing their personalities. This is a remarkably accessible account which will be a good introduction to those new to Irish history. The reader will be spell bound by many of the accounts such as Cathal Brugha's one-man stand against a batallion of British soldiers, and the heart-wrenching final account of the hours leading up to James Connolly's execution having to be tied to a chair due to the severity of his wounds. Pick up this book, you may not be able to put it down.