Charles Stewart Parnell

by Paul Bew

Charles Stewart Parnell is not just one of the key figures of modern Irish he is also one of the most enigmatic. He was a wealthy, Protestant landlord who led a largely Catholic land reform and nationalist movement. He was an apparently cold, aloof man whose political downfall was precipitated by his passionate love affair with another man's wife. He was not a great orator in a country that loves oratory, yet he dominated its public life as no man has done before or since. In this short biography, Paul Bew tries to resolve some of the apparent contradictions in Parnell's life and career. He argues that Parnell was fundamentally a constitutionalist and that his primary concern was the survival of his own landlord class, safely integrated into a new Ireland. Other books by Paul Bew Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Chronology.

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

About the author

A graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Paul Bew has been Professor of Irish Politics at Queen's University, Belfast since 1991. A leading commentator on Northern Irish politics, he is the author of many publications on Irish history and the politics of contemporary Ireland.

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 52 Book Challenge - 47) Set In The City of Dublin

I've long heard that Paul Bew wrote the seminal work on Charles Stewart Parnell, so I've wanted to read it for years. I know that it's had a major update, re-release, and has been renamed as Enigma, which I also have to read to compare the two at a later date.

I do think that Bew has a very good view of Parnell, able to highlight both his skills and his flaws, from his rise to the "Uncrowned King of Ireland", a Protestant leading a Catholic fight, to his imprisonment in Kilmainham Gaol, his affair with Kitty O'Shea leading to the downfall of his career, his failure to achieve Home Rule and his effective abandonment of Irish politics after the split of his party.

It was definitely worth a read, for anybody wanting a general view over the politics and personalities of the era, or for an academic studying Parnell.