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John Mitchel: Irish Nationalist, Southern Secessionist. By Bryan P McGovern. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2009. Pp. xviii, 293. $36.00. ISBN 978-1-57233-654-4.)
John Mitchel was both a radical Irish nationalist and a militant southern partisan. Explaining how Mitchel reconciled his passion for Irish freedom with his defense of American slavery is a challenge for historians. Bryan P McGovern notes that there have been nine biographies of Mitchel but that no full-scale works have been undertaken since the 1940s. While McGovern has not uncovered any new source material, he offers many new insights on Mitchel's life and writings.
The son of a Unitarian minister, Mitchel was born in 1815 in Ulster. Trained as a lawyer, Mitchel quickly switched to journalism and politics. Initially supportive of Daniel O'Connell, the Irish parliamentary leader, Mitchel soon shifted his allegiance to the more militant Young Irelanders. McGovern notes that the Great Famine of 1845-1849 profoundly affected Mitchel. Outraged at the government's tepid response to the Irish crisis, Mitchel accused the British of "genocide" -...