Description

In this book, Richard Kirkland explores the history of Northern Ireland through the biography of one of its most unusual and talented performers - the legendary musician, IRA activist, poet, and Catholic mystic, Cathal O'Byrne. O'Byrne's fascinating life, as Kirkland shows, is part and parcel of the extraordinary story of this fractured island. Both gay and Catholic in Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland, O'Byrne's circle of friends included the renowned human rights campaigner Roger Casement, the activist Maud Gonne, and the leader of the Easter Rising of 1916 Patrick Pearse. Despite his outsider status, O'Byrne's work was indicative of major shifts in public opinion, as O'Byrne moved from Home Rule politics to an eventual commitment to arms during the Irish War of Independence.