"A Provisional Dictator" is a political biography of James Stephens, the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Marta Ramon traces Stephens' political and revolutionary career from his involvement in Young Ireland's insurrection in 1848 until his death in Dublin on 29 March 1901. James Stephens was born in Kilkenny in obscure circumstances in 1825. In 1848, he joined William Smith O'Brien's revolutionary attempt and took part in the skirmish at the Widow McCormack's house near Ballingarry. After the failure he escaped to France, where he worked as a translator and tutor of English. In 1856 he returned to Ireland, and in 1858 he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish branch of the Fenian movement. However, Stephens' continued reluctance to order the long-expected rising led to his overthrow in December 1866. After his deposition he exiled himself in France and until the early 1880s made several unsuccessful attempts to regain power. In 1891, he was finally allowed to return to Dublin, where he died on 29 March 1901. James Stephens is one of the most fascinating personalities in Irish nationalist history. Arrogant, dictatorial, manipulative and unscrupulous about the means to attain his ends, but intensely charismatic and mesmerisingly persuasive, he lacked essential qualities as a revolutionary leader, but can be ranked among the best political organisers of the nineteenth century. "A Provisional Dictator" follows Stephens' revolutionary career and the course of the IRB under his leadership, explaining the tactical and political motives behind his most controversial decisions.

James Fintan Lalor (1807-1849) was one of the most original thinkers of the Young Ireland movement, and one of the most frequently appropriated by later Irish activists. From Michael Davitt to James Connolly, a host of self-proclaimed disciples celebrated Lalor in succession as a proto-Fenian rebel, the prophet of Irish land reform, the fourth evangelist of Irish nationalism, and the Irish apostle of revolutionary Socialism. Not all of these definitions fit the reality of Lalor's political thought, but they attest to the deep impression he made on several generations of Irish readers. This edition offers a fresh transcription of Lalor's articles in their original newspaper form, removing the small alterations handed down from Lilian Fogarty's canonical 1918 edition. The introduction provides an overview of Lalor's career and explains the circumstances surrounding each article. An appendix completes the selection with two important documents: Lalor's surprising 1843 letter to Sir Robert Peel, and an unpublished article intended as Lalor's second contribution to the Nation. This small corpus - a mere twelve articles written between 1847 and 1848 - nevertheless suffices to argue for Lalor's inclusion among the great Irish writers of the nineteenth century.

"A Provisional Dictator" is a political biography of James Stephens, the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Marta Ramon traces Stephens' political and revolutionary career from his involvement in Young Ireland's insurrection in 1848 until his death in Dublin on 29 March 1901. James Stephens was born in Kilkenny in obscure circumstances in 1825. In 1848, he joined William Smith O'Brien's revolutionary attempt and took part in the skirmish at the Widow McCormack's house near Ballingarry. After the failure he escaped to France, where he worked as a translator and tutor of English. In 1856 he returned to Ireland, and in 1858 he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish branch of the Fenian movement. However, Stephens' continued reluctance to order the long-expected rising led to his overthrow in December 1866. After his deposition he exiled himself in France and until the early 1880s made several unsuccessful attempts to regain power. In 1891, he was finally allowed to return to Dublin, where he died on 29 March 1901. James Stephens is one of the most fascinating personalities in Irish nationalist history. Arrogant, dictatorial, manipulative and unscrupulous about the means to attain his ends, but intensely charismatic and mesmerisingly persuasive, he lacked essential qualities as a revolutionary leader, but can be ranked among the best political organisers of the nineteenth century. "A Provisional Dictator" follows Stephens' revolutionary career and the course of the IRB under his leadership, explaining the tactical and political motives behind his most controversial decisions.

James Stephens' "American Diary" is one of the most important documents of early Fenianism. It uncovers the difficulties facing the movement's founders, and offers an insight into mid nineteenth-century American life and the Irish-American community. It also provides a unique first-hand impression of James Stephens' striking personality. It is one of Stephens' scarce full-length pieces and one of the best written, although it has not previously been published in its entirety.