Aspirations of social mobility and anti-Catholic discrimination were the lifeblood of subversive opposition to British rule in Ireland during the mid-nineteenth century. Refugees of the Great Famine who congregated in ethnic enclaves in North America and the United Kingdom supported the militant Fenian Brotherhood and its Dublin-based counterpart, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), in hopes of one day returning to an independent homeland. Despite lackluster leadership, the movement was briefly a credible security threat which impacted the history of nations on both sides of the Atlantic. Inspired by the failed Young Ireland insurrection of 1848 and other nationalist movements on the European continent, the Fenian Brotherhood and the IRB (collectively known as the Fenians) surmised that insurrection was the only path to Irish freedom. By 1865, the Fenians had filled their ranks with battle-tested Irish expatriate veterans of the Union and Confederate armies who were anxious to liberate Ireland. Lofty Fenian ambitions were ultimately compromised by several factors including United States government opposition and the resolution of volunteer Canadian militias who repelled multiple Fenian incursions into New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. The Fenian legacy is thus multi-faceted. It was a mildly-threatening source of nationalist pride for discouraged Irish expatriates until the organization fulfilled its pledge to violently attack British soldiers and subjects. It also encouraged the confederation of Canadian provinces under the 1867 Dominion Act. In this book, Patrick Steward and Bryan McGovern present the first holistic, multi-national study of the Fenian movement. While utilizing a vast array of previously untapped primary sources, the authors uncover the socio-economic roots of Irish nationalist behavior at the height of the Victorian Period. Concurrently, they trace the progression of Fenian ideals in the grassroots of Young Ireland to its de facto collapse in 1870s. In doing so, the authors change the perception of the Fenians from fanatics who aimlessly attempted to free their homeland to idealists who believed in their cause and fought with a physical and rhetorical force that was not nonsensical and hopeless as some previous accounts have suggested. PATRICK STEWARD works in the Mayo Clinic Development Office in Rochester, Minnesota. He obtained a Ph.D. in Irish History at University of Missouri under the direction of Kerby Miller. Patrick additionally holds two degrees from Tufts University and he was a strategic intelligence analyst at the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. early in his professional career. BRYAN MCGOVERN is an associate professor of history at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. He is author of the widely praised 2009 book John Mitchel, Irish Nationalist, Southern Secessionist and has written various articles, chapters, and book reviews on Irish and Irish-American nationalism.

This text provides the context for Fenianism and a perspective on the social and political history of mid-Victorian Ireland. The Fenian movement of the mid-19th century is one of the central elements in the story of Irish nationalism. It was a decisive factor in the land war of the late 1870s, early 1880s, and in the evolution of Parnell's political career. It became a leading theme of the Anglo-Irish literary revival and it has continued to exert its influence on Irish republicanism in the 20th century.

An important document of early Fenianism, James Stephens' American diary uncovers the difficulties facing the movement's founders, and offers an insight into mid 19th century American life and the Irish-American community.

Irish revolutionary nationalism, initially dedicated to insurgency, quickly descended into less conventional violence. How successive British governments responded to this challenge and the extent of their respect for essential freedoms are the subject of The Fenian Problem. Dramatic and tragic rescues of arrested Fenian leaders, the formation of a Fenian squad to assassinate suspected informers and policemen, the bombing of a London prison, public executions of Fenians, the quality of British justice, and the struggle to develop counter-terrorism policies and an effective system of intelligence form the core of The Fenian Problem. Brian Jenkins adds new information to the established narrative of the movement, arguing that it resorted to terrorism in its pursuit of Irish independence. Jenkins discusses the parallels between the government's treatment of Fenian prisoners in the 1860s and their handling of the IRA in the 1970s as well as the similarities between the challenges posed by Fenians and those presented by Islamic insurgents, showing that nineteenth-century British and Irish history illuminate contemporary discussions of state security and liberal government responses to terrorism. Book jacket.

"A Provisional Dictator" is a political biography of James Stephens, the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Marta Ramon traces Stephens' political and revolutionary career from his involvement in Young Ireland's insurrection in 1848 until his death in Dublin on 29 March 1901. James Stephens was born in Kilkenny in obscure circumstances in 1825. In 1848, he joined William Smith O'Brien's revolutionary attempt and took part in the skirmish at the Widow McCormack's house near Ballingarry. After the failure he escaped to France, where he worked as a translator and tutor of English. In 1856 he returned to Ireland, and in 1858 he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish branch of the Fenian movement. However, Stephens' continued reluctance to order the long-expected rising led to his overthrow in December 1866. After his deposition he exiled himself in France and until the early 1880s made several unsuccessful attempts to regain power. In 1891, he was finally allowed to return to Dublin, where he died on 29 March 1901. James Stephens is one of the most fascinating personalities in Irish nationalist history.Arrogant, dictatorial, manipulative and unscrupulous about the means to attain his ends, but intensely charismatic and mesmerisingly persuasive, he lacked essential qualities as a revolutionary leader, but can be ranked among the best political organisers of the nineteenth century. "A Provisional Dictator" follows Stephens' revolutionary career and the course of the IRB under his leadership, explaining the tactical and political motives behind his most controversial decisions.