Description
Book Synopsis"Words of a Dead Chief" is an important text from a critical period in Irish nationalist politics. Published in 1892, shortly after Charles Stewart Parnell's death, it is a collection of extracts from his speeches, including all of the best-known ones. There is an unmistakeable political even propagandist dimension to the publication. It was written for a nationalist audience and particularly for followers of Parnell. Wyse-Power explains in her preface that the purpose of her 'humble memento' was to keep the principles which Parnell enunciated before the minds of Irish Nationalists 'for whom there should be a rule of political faith and conduct'. She aimed to select such passages as were most characteristic of Parnell, of most vital importance for nationalists to study, remember and take for guidance. This edition includes the original introduction by C. S. Parnell's sister Anna. The book was an immediate bestseller. It was easily accessible to a general audience and proved highly influential, but it went quickly out of print.
Trade Review"University College Dublin Press has now published over thirty 'Classics of Irish History'. These contemporary accounts by well known personalities of historical events and attitudes have an immediacy that conventional histories do not have. Introductions by modern historians provide additional historical background and, with hindsight, objectivity." Books Ireland Nov 2007 "Scholars of nineteenth-century Irish and Irish-American politics should reacquaint themselves with these classics, part of a long running and immensely useful series from University College Dublin Press." Irish Literary Supplement Fall 2008 "This edition is useful for a number of reasons, not least in giving us an insight into Parnell through his own words but also for throwing light on contemporary views on the split as it contains both Wyse-Power's original preface and the introduction by Parnell's sister, Anna. Anyone interested in Parnell and the development of the nationalist movement would do well to read the man in his own words - when so much of what we know of the man is based on the opinion of others." Books Ireland September 2009 'reissued with illuminating new introductions as a part of the Classics of Irish History series published by UCD Press, one of the most admirable - endeavours in recent Irish publishing history. More than this, these texts were also all political interventions. Jennie Wyse-Power compiled this selection of Parnell's 'worlds', published with an impassioned introduction by Anna Parnell, amid the anger and grief unleashed by 'the Chief's' death in 1891.' Irish Literary Supplement Fall 2010
Table of ContentsEditors' Introduction by Donal McCartney and Pauric Travers; WORDS OF THE DEAD CHIEF: Introduction by Anna Parnell; Part I: The Early Struggles - the Land League; Part II: From Prison to Victory; Part III: Betrayed!
