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The Green Flag: A history of Irish nationalism | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Kee
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 523854
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 896
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0140291652
Dewey Decimal Number: 941
EAN: 9780140291650
ASIN: 0140291652
Publication Date: May 1, 2001
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Book Description
Covering Irish history from the beginnings of Irish Nationalism through 1973, Robert Kee's treatment ranges from the Protestant Plantations through Wolfe Tone and the Great Famine to the founding of the Fenian Movement and the Irish Free State. His authoritative and comprehensive history is masterly in its detail and judicious analysis. A classic in its field, this is essential reading for anyone attempting to understand the complex historical forces that have shaped Ireland.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wealth of research, but obviously written by an Englishman July 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A wealth of information and a lifetime of research when into this history of Irish Nationalism. The amount of heroism, suffering, waste, and tragedy in this book is eye-opening. Only read if you are a history buff very intersted in Irish history, although certain chapters should be read by a larger audience. Kee, a former RAF officer and an englishmen, certainly has his bias's as do all authors. His description of the Easter Rebellion and it's aftermath show this. He doesn't seem to understand or portray why the masses of Native Irish Catholics treated these rebels as heroes after their execution. If they had such limited popular support, why would this happen? If they were condemned by the majority when the rebellion broke out as Kee maintains, how could they do a 180 so quickly? He essentially explains it away by pointing to the Irish obsession with martyrs and mytholigical folk memories. He mentions those who spit at the rebels as they were being marched to the prison boats waiting to take them to prison camps but fails to mention the support, especially among the poor Dubliners, they were shown on their march despite the very real threat that these supporters faced from vigilant British soldiers. He also implies that those who voted for Sinn Fein in their landslide victory in 1918 elections didn't really want a free, independent Ireland but just voted for Sinn Fein as they thought it would get them the best deal (more self government) from the British Empire. Well, if they wanted the largest amount of self government from Britain then obviously that would ideally be complete independence. True, they certainly didn't expect to get total independece through the election, but what would you expect after their brutal experiences under centures of british rule??
He also states that the problem with British rule of Ireland wasn't that they treated them as inferior beings or ignored their problems, it's simply that they ignored the problems of the Irish until it was too late to avoid another rebellion or crisis. That is like saying about the outbreak of the French Revolution: the problem was not that French aristocracy treated the peasants/working class as animals while they lived in luxury off the fruits of their (lower classes) labor, but simply that they waited too long to address their problems! Who is to say the British would have addressed them in the first place! That's quite an assumption to make about an empire that let almost 2 million Irish starve and forced another 2 million to emigrate to avoid starvation, while all the while Ireland was producing enough food to feed it's people 3-4 times over (Potatoe Famine)!!! (england was getting most of the food)
I could go on, but I gave it 3 stars just because of the wealth of information in there. But read some other author's on Irish history to get a more accurate perspective.
 Extremely enlightening book August 21, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Robert Kee, contrary to previous reviews, is almost surprising in the objectivity he brings to a segment of history notorious for being incredibly emotionally charged -- historical objectivity rather surprising to find in someone that doesn't make history their calling.
His well researched trilogy sheds light on the tragic effects of English misrule in Ireland, as well as the startling contrast of nationalist myth and fact -- that militant republicanism, despite the whitewash radicals would like to use, succeeded more in spite of itself than anything, and that it is deeply unrepresentative of Irish political opinion. Indeed, the final success of militant republicanism can be more attributed to the extreme political missteps of the English administration in Ireland than the supposed correctness of their methods. Hardly the imagery painted in Republican music and myth.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that seeks an understanding of the underlying causes of the centuries of political strife and violence that have plagued Ireland, and -- despite steps toward peace -- may continue to plague Ireland in the future.
 English Propaganda June 29, 2007
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
Kee, a former RAF officer, lets his English propaganda brush slap on to the window pane. His examination of the Fenian Brotherhood of American is very shallow. He doesn't want to lose his American audience. He avoids tagging the former American officers as "terrorists." Yet one might ask oneself:why would an Irish born officer, founded at Fredericksburg return to Ireland --and not pick up his civilian life in America? A question not answered by Mr. Kee! Mr. Kee parleyed his trilogy into a multi-part BBC Tv series where is expressions and voice betrayed his lack of objectivity.
One of the Best Books on Irish Political History-Ever September 8, 2001
55 out of 57 found this review helpful
This is a famous and well reputed book. It has been in print now for almost 30 years-deservedly so I might add. I suspect it will still be in print another 30 years from now.
Robert Kee was a journalist and a famous World War 2 P.O.W. escapee. He writes lucidly and with great style, eloquence even. Yet above all his books are a darn good read. This book is vividly written, fleshed out with characters and facts that are dispassionatly but richly detailed.
This book follows the course of Irish nationalism from the distant past of the Tudor wars and Anglo-Scottish Settlements up through the rise of DeVelera.
Its true strength is in parts two and three which recount, in great detail, the growth of Irish nationalist sentiment (and rebellion) and land reform/Catholic emancipation, during the 19th Century. Kee demonstrates clearly the ever so slight, but vital, strand of personal connection that linked Wolfe Tones' United Irishmen to Emmet, Parnell, the Fenians and eventually the I.R.A..
Part three details the rise of the Nationalist cause in the wake of Parnell's fall and the rise of the I.R.B./I.R.A. in the late Victorian era up through the Civil war of the 1920s. This book painted very clearly the horror of the Black and Tan war as well as the subsequently even more nasty Irish civil war.
Up until the 1970s a great many people in Ireland would not even speak to each other because of the bitterness engendered by the latter conflict. It spawned Ireland's two major parties and the emotions, recriminations and even hatred caused by the Collins/DeVelera conflict still has significant effect today. This era also shaped the course of the present day three I.R.A.s (Provisional,"Real" and "Stickie").
This book does not deal with the Present Ulster 'troubles' at all. But you can not understand them, nor modern Ireland without reading this book.
Above all, this book was written in a 'neutral' fashion, by an outsider, who deeply loved his subject. It lacks the usual bombast of many other slanted histories. At the same time none of the drama, emotion, glory nor hatred are lost in the telling.
To illustrate what I mean by the above review: in 1987 I asked a series of Irish politicians of all persuasions what history book would still be in print in 2037 and what volumes would they use if they had to teach Irish history to a class at Harvard. Every politician (except the Rev.Ian Paisley) mentioned this book.
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