United Irishmen, United States

Wilson does a very good job of putting the political turmoil of the early American Republic into a global context. The Alien and Sedition Acts of the Adams administration are put into a very different focus when viewed alongside the 1798 rising in Ireland. United Irish exiles saw the pro-English Federalist agenda in a very personal light and the bulk of them became the "most God-provoking Democrats this side of Hell" in the words of one Federalist. All too often Irish influence in American politics is dated from the Famine immigrations, a situation Wilson atempts to rectify. An interesting book for both students of early American and Irish history.

Wilson's take on the early Irish immigrants to America is both thought provoking and important. Some of his points are a little strong: I'm not certain that the United Irishmen can be seen as a primary reason for the downfall of the Federalist Party. Still, he backs up his assertions with reasonable facts, and in so doing certainly opens debate on the matter. He does a fine job of showing both the radical nature of these immigrants as well as their scattered geographic nature (Denis Driscol, who became editor of the Augusta [Georgia] Chronicle is a perfect example of both). Wilson's book also emphasizes the Irishness of the United Irishmen, a point which should not be overlooked, given how the Dissenters in Ireland were appropriated by the establishment after 1798, and how modern America wants to emphasize the "Scots-Irishness" of the Dissenters. Wilson reveals these men as truly IRISH in thought and action.