The Immortal Irishman

December 14, 2015
Those who have heard of Thomas Francis Meagher (1823–1867) will likely know him as a Union general in the Civil War, but Egan (The Big Burn), National Book Award–winner for The Worst Hard Time, moves Meagher convincingly into the ranks of patriots of both the U.S. and Ireland. With novelistic skill, Egan fashions a dizzying tableau of the life of his restless subject. Meagher was an Irish revolutionary who was condemned to death but then exiled to Tasmania. He then escaped to America, where he lived in New York City and became active in Irish-American politics. He was later appointed general of the Union army’s Irish Brigade (which helped knit oft-scorned Irish immigrants into the American fabric) and became a heroic war leader, before becoming lieutenant governor of the Montana Territory. Egan also reexamines evidence about Meagher’s death in Montana, convincingly concluding that he was assassinated by frontier vigilantes resentful of his determination to create the rule of law. As history, Egan’s book is solid; as storytelling, it’s captivating. The work adds little to the broader picture of American history—it focuses on the scenes in which Meagher participated, and those have been exhaustively covered elsewhere—but it provides an impressive biography of a distinctive Irish-American figure, the patriot of two countries, faithful to each to his last. Agent: Carol Mann, Carol Mann Agency.

January 1, 2016

Egan's biography of Irish revolutionary Thomas Francis Meagher (1823-67) illustrates a singularly Irish-American story. In outlining Meagher's life, Egan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of the National Book Award winner The Worst Hard Time, seeks to demonstrate how Meagher's experience was emblematic of Irish immigrants' spirit and resolve. Meagher was born in a well-to-do family in Ireland but was deeply empathetic toward the plight of the Irish poor, having lived through the Great Famine in the 1840s. After a failed uprising against the English, Meagher was banished to a penal colony in Tasmania, Australia. He escaped to the United States and took up the cause of freedom, identifying with the new country's anti-British attitudes. Leading the Irish Brigade in the Civil War, Meagher fought in some of the bloodiest battles, including Bull Run in 1861. He survived the war and was appointed governor of Montana territory where he hoped to create a "New Ireland." His death by drowning in 1867 remains a mystery. VERDICT This important account is an excellent choice for all readers, especially those interested in the contributions of the Irish to U.S. history. [See Prepub Alert, 10/5/15.]--Barrie Olmstead, Sacramento P.L.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2016
Egan follows the blazingly interesting biography of a man not so much forgotten as insufficiently rememberedthe Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction winner, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher (2012), about photographer Edward S. Curtiswith that of another, orator-soldier Thomas Francis Meagher (182367). The son of a wealthy Irish merchant, Meagher became the courageous public spokesman of the revolutionary, though nonmilitary, Young Ireland movement during the Great Hunger. For that he was first condemned to be drawn and quartered, then reprieved and transported, as were several of his confreres, to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Britain's last penal colony. He escaped and reached San Francisco, where he fired up his fellow Irish immigrants for eventual return to and liberation of their homeland. He also embraced citizenship in his nation of refuge, speaking out against slavery and for the Union and organizing the Irish Brigade, which he led through many ghastly battles of the Civil War. After Appomattox, Meagher hoped to establish a New Ireland in the West and became acting governor of Montana Territory, a position that proved a death trap. Meagher lived life full-tilt, with old-fashioned honor as well as courage and dash, so inspiring Egan that the prose flashes and flares and sometimes strains grammar to accommodate the astonishing figure that he was.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

April 25, 2016
Gerard Doyle does a grand job presenting Egan’s dizzying tableau of the life of his restless subject, Irish revolutionary Thomas Francis Meagher (1823–1867). Meagher was condemned to death by the British but then exiled to Tasmania. He then escaped to America, where he lived in New York City and became active in Irish-American politics. He was later appointed general of the Union army’s Irish Brigade. With an appealing Irish lilt to his voice, Doyle narrates Egan’s book with a clear, easy delivery that draws the listener in chapter after chapter as Meagher’s remarkable story plays out against history’s backdrop. A Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover.

Starred review from December 1, 2015
The story of Thomas Meagher (1823-1867), an Irishman radicalized by the famine who became a hero on three continents.New York Times columnist Egan (Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis, 2012, etc.), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, could have written multiple books about Meagher's broad successes. He was a natural-born orator, and his gift encouraged his fellow Irish in hopes of freedom sooner, rather than "in time," as per the Great Liberator, Daniel O'Connell. The author imparts the desperation of the starving families while pointing to the many wealthy Catholics and Protestants who worked to achieve liberty. During the Great Famine, England exported 1.5 billion pounds of grain as well as more beef than any other colony, while millions starved without the blighted potatoes that sustained them. After a fiery speech in Conciliation Hall and a betrayal by John Balfe, the English arrested Meagher and a handful of others for speaking out. Meagher was sent to Tasmania, and while he was not put into forced labor, he had limited contact with his fellow Irish. Discovering that the traitor Balfe had been given a land grant, he sent an anonymous series of letters to the press, exposing his perfidy. Eventually, with help from his wealthy father, he escaped. His reputation preceded him, and his welcome in America was riotous. His leadership and oration made him a great recruiter of his fellow countrymen during the Civil War. A different side of the Civil War emerges as the author describes the frustrations of war under Gen. George McClellan and the devotion of Meagher's men. Exhausted after Chancellorsville, Meagher resigned and moved to Montana with his wife, where he fought yet again against a rabid vigilance committee. A fascinating, well-told story by an author fully committed to his subject. Egan's impeccable research, uncomplicated readability, and flowing narrative reflect his deep knowledge of a difficult and complex man.

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November 1, 2015

Even if you don't know Egan as a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the National Book Award-winning author of The Worst Hard Time, and the New York Times best-selling author of The Big Burn, you'll know him as the Times' weekly online "Opinionator" columnist. Here he tells the story of Irish-born Thomas Francis Meagher, banished to a Tasmanian prison colony after leading a quashed uprising against British rule. Soon he was in America, leading the Union army's Irish Brigade during the Civil War and ending his days as territorial governor of Montana. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.