<p>Sim demonstrates a fine eye for nuance in a well-researched and clearly written study that contributes significantly to works on Irish American nationalism, transnational political history, and the history of U.S. foreign policy.</p> - William Jenkins (Journal of American History) <p>With this book, David Sim extends that growing understanding of the importance of Ireland and its American diaspora into the period from the 1840s to the 1890s. One intriguing aspect of the book is that Sim admits from the start that the Irish-American effort to enlist the United States in an attempt to free Ireland failed. The book is an important contribution to a number of fields. By exploring the role of nonstate actors and public opinion on American foreign relations, <i>A Union Forever</i> adds to the growing exploration of that topic. In its treatment of Irish American nationalism's interest in harnessing American policy, the book expands our understanding of the history of Irish America. Because Sim covers all of this in light of the evolving Anglo-American relationship during the eighteenth century, he provides a better lens through which to explain how the later 'special relationship' evolved. It is an important read for historians of Ireland, Irish America, and American foreign relations.</p> - John Day Tully (American Historical Review)

In the mid-nineteenth century the Irish question—the governance of the island of Ireland—demanded attention on both sides of the Atlantic. In A Union Forever, David Sim examines how Irish nationalists and their American sympathizers attempted to convince legislators and statesmen to use the burgeoning global influence of the United States to achieve Irish independence. Simultaneously, he tracks how American politicians used the Irish question as means of furthering their own diplomatic and political ends.

Combining an innovative transnational methodology with attention to the complexities of American statecraft, Sim rewrites the diplomatic history of this neglected topic. He considers the impact that nonstate actors had on formal affairs between the United States and Britain, finding that not only did Irish nationalists fail to involve the United States in their cause but actually fostered an Anglo-American rapprochement in the final third of the nineteenth century. Their failures led them to seek out new means of promoting Irish self-determination, including an altogether more radical, revolutionary strategy that would alter the course of Irish and British history over the next century.

Les mer
David Sim examines how Irish nationalists and their American sympathizers tried to convince legislators and statesmen to use the global influence of the United States to achieve Irish independence.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: An Atlantic Triangle
1. Challenging the Union: American Repeal and U.S. Diplomacy
2. Ireland Is No Longer a Nation: The Irish Famine and American Diplomacy
3. Filibusters and Fenians: Contesting Neutrality
4. The Fenian Brotherhood, Naturalization, and Expatriation: Irish Americans and Anglo-American Comity
5. Toward Home Rule: From the Fenians to Parnell's Ascendancy
6. A Search for Order: The Decline of the Irish Question in American Diplomacy
Epilogue: Rapprochement, Paris, and a Free State
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Les mer
A Union Forever is a perceptive and persuasive analysis of the ways in which Irish American nationalists attempted to exploit Anglo-American tensions to advance the cause of Irish independence even as American statesmen attempted to fit 'the Irish Question' into their own domestic and diplomatic goals. David Sim effectively brings out the central irony of Irish American nationalist activities: A campaign that was intended to create the space for Irish independence by driving Britan and the United States further apart actually resulted in closer Anglo-American cooperation on the key issues of citizenship, neutrality, and extradition.
Les mer
A series edited by David C. Engerman, Amy S. Greenberg, and Paul A. Kramer
Books in this innovative series globalize the study of United States history. It features extraordinary works that explore how people, ideas, processes, and events that transcend national borders have shaped United States history from the antebellum period through the present. Cornell University Press and the series editors welcome established and emerging scholars based in the United States and abroad who work on diverse topics and regions of the world. The series encourages books that integrate the methodologies of transnational and international history, particularly the use of domestic and international archives; multilingual sources; and the study of the important role played by both state and non-state actors. The goal of the United States in the World series is to bring together the best new scholarship that globalizes United States history, thereby enriching and broadening our understanding of United States history. Please send inquiries to: David C. Engerman (david.engerman@yale.edu), Amy S. Greenberg (amygreenberg@psu.edu), or Paul A. Kramer (paul.a.kramer@vanderbilt.edu). Forthcoming volumes in the series include: Foreign Affairs: Policy, Culture, and the Making of Love and War in Vietnam by Amanda Chapman Boczar Civilizational Imperatives: Americans, Moros, and the Colonial World by Oliver Charbonneau Outsourcing Democracy: U.S. NGOs and the Collapse of the Soviet Union by Kate Geoghegan The Gathering Storm: The United States, Eduardo Frei's Revolution in Liberty, and the Polarization of Chilean Politics, 1964-1970 by Sebastiàn Hurtado-Torres The Ends of Modernization: Development, Ideology, and Catastrophe in Nicaragua after the Alliance for Progress by David Johnson Lee The Asian Cinema Network: The Asian Film Festival, the Asia Foundation, and the Cultural Cold War in Asia by Sangjoon Lee Arc of Containment: Britain, the United States, and Anticommunism in Southeast Asia by Wen-Qing Ngoei The Greek Fire: The Greek Revolution and the Emergence of American Reform Movements by Maureen Santelli The Proving Ground: Competing Visions for Democracy and Human Rights during the Cold War by William Michael Schmidli Pursuing Respectability in the Cannibal Isles: Americans in Nineteenth-century Fiji by Nancy Shoemaker The United States, the International Community, and Indonesia's New Order, 1966–1998 by Bradley R. Simpson To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelicals, Human Rights, and U.S. Foreign Policy by Lauren Turek The Value of Interests: The Politics of U.S. Human Rights Diplomacy in Latin America, 1973-1984 by Vanessa Walker Oil Money: How Petrodollars Transformed U.S.-Middle East Relations, 1967–1986 by David M. Wight Series Editors David C. Engerman is Professor of History at Yale University. He has written two books on American ideas about Russia/USSR, including Know Your Enemy: The Rise and Fall of America's Soviet Experts. His longstanding interest in modernization and development programs in the Third World has led to two co-edited collections (including Staging Growth: Modernization, Development, and the Global Cold War) and his new book, The Price of Aid: The Economic Cold War in India. His current research is on the global politics of economic inequality in the 1970s. Amy S. Greenberg is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of four books, including the prize-winning A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico; Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion: A Brief History with Documents; and Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire. She is currently at work on a study of the role of dissent in nineteenth-century U.S. foreign policy. Paul A. Kramer is Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States and the Philippines, winner of the Stuart L. Bernath and James Rawley Prizes, as well as numerous articles on U. S. transnational, imperial and global histories. His current project deals with the intersection between immigration and imperial politics in the United States across the 20th century.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780801451843
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
Cornell University Press
Vekt
907 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
25 mm
Aldersnivå
01, G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
280

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

David Sim is Lecturer in US History at University College London.