John Mitchel

John Mitchel was the son of a Presbyterian minister, a qualified attorney, a leading contributor to the Nation newspapers and the most militant of the Young Irelanders. He was arrested in 1848 for attempting to incite rebellion in Ireland, and while in captivity, wrote his famous Jail Journal, starkly expressing his hatred of the British Empire. Escaping to America after five years, he became a strong supporter of slavery and the Confederate States. While Mitchel's harsh views have limited his impression on history, he was a powerful polemical journalist and a central figure in the revival of militant Irish nationalism. His portrayal of the famine as deliberate genocide became central to nationalist orthodoxy, and his contempt for British rule and parliamentary politics inspired Fenianism. This new biography discovers the origins of Mitchel's views, examines their influence, and places his anglophobia within a more general critique of the age in which he lived.

John Mitchel was the son of a Presbyterian minister, a qualified attorney, a leading contributor to the Nation newspapers and the most militant of the Young Irelanders. He was arrested in 1848 for attempting to incite rebellion in Ireland, and while in captivity, wrote his famous Jail Journal, starkly expressing his hatred of the British Empire. Escaping to America after five years, he became a strong supporter of slavery and the Confederate States. While Mitchel's harsh views have limited his impression on history, he was a powerful polemical journalist and a central figure in the revival of militant Irish nationalism. His portrayal of the famine as deliberate genocide became central to nationalist orthodoxy, and his contempt for British rule and parliamentary politics inspired Fenianism. This new biography discovers the origins of Mitchel's views, examines their influence, and places his anglophobia within a more general critique of the age in which he lived.