The Laurel and the Ivy: The Story of Charles Stewart Parnell and Irish Nationalism

Parnell (1846-1891) was born to an American mother and an Anglo-Irish Protestant landowner in County Wicklow during the potato famine. After an indifferent career at Cambridge-he preferred cricket to scholarship-he returned to Ireland. In 1875 he entered the House of Commons, where his activities in the next 15 years would change Ireland forever. First, he organized the Home Rule Party and made it a powerful voice in government. He was active in the Land League, which fought for reform against rent-gouging absentee landlords. In 1886 he helped Gladstone's unsuccessful attempt to pass a Home Rule bill that would be the precursor to Irish freedom from British rule. Perhaps this biography's most sensational aspect involves Parnell's relationship with Katie O'Shea and her husband, Willie, a fellow MP. When the love affair between Parnell and Katie became known, Parnell was condemned by the Catholic Church and fellow politicians such as Tim Healy. Soon thereafter, Parnell died, possibly of a heart attack. Only then was it revealed that Katie had borne him two daughters. British historian Kee's exciting biography should become a standard for those interested in Irish history. Photos. (Sept.)