Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism, 1880-1980

In Unmanageable Revolutionaries, Margaret Ward describes how Irish women (despite their frequent omission from the history books) have always played a key role in the struggle for independence. Ward depicts the role women have played in the Irish struggle from 1881 to the present day, particularly in the crucial post-1916 period, and in doing so underlines the irony whereby fellow nationalists, despite their common struggle, remained factionalized. The book focuses on three pivotal Irish nationalist women's organizations--the Ladies Land League, Inghinidhe na hEireann and Cumann na mBan--and shows how, despite the inherent differences between the three movements, a salient theme emerges, namely the underwhelming extent to which Irish women have been recognized as a driving force in Irish political history.