cover image Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish Revolutionary

Citizen Lord: The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, Irish Revolutionary

Stella Tillyard, S. K. Tillyard. Farrar Straus Giroux, $30 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-374-12383-3

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Irish Rising of 1798, and Tillyard (The Impact of Modernism) brings to life one of its heroes. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, son of the 20th Earl of Kildare, was born in London in 1763. His mother moved the family to a Dublin suburb, where they were raised and educated under the tutelage of William Ogilvie. After the death of Edward's father, his mother married Ogilvie and moved the family to France. Edward took his cadet training in Paris and was commissioned a lieutenant in the British Army during the American Revolution. Wounded at Eutaw Springs, he was saved by Tony Small, a slave who would be his lifelong servant and friend. Returning to Dublin after the war, he vowed to make radical changes to end discrimination aimed at Catholics and dissenters. Tillyard takes a look at Edward's journey to America and the influence of the new republic on him, as well as the galvanizing effects of the French Revolution. Joining the Society of United Irishmen, Edward became a key organizer and was forced to go on the run to avoid arrest. Eventually he was tracked down and killed, and the revolution he meticulously planned failed to materialize. This is an exciting look at a revolutionary icon whose life reads almost like a romance novel. Photos. (June)