Unmanageable Revolutionaries

In Unmanageable Revolutionaries, Margaret Ward describes how Irish women (despite their frequent omission from the history books) have always played a key role in the struggle for independence. Ward depicts the role women have played in the Irish struggle from 1881 to the present day, particularly in the crucial post-1916 period, and in doing so underlines the irony whereby fellow nationalists, despite their common struggle, remained factionalized. The book focuses on three pivotal Irish nationalist women’s organizations—the Ladies Land League, Inghinidhe na hEireann and Cumann na mBan—and shows how, despite the inherent differences between the three movements, a salient theme emerges, namely the underwhelming extent to which Irish women have been recognized as a driving force in Irish political history.