A provisional dictator : James Stephens and the Fenian movement /

James Stephens (1825-1901) occupies a distinctive place in the lineup of Irish republican conspirators from Theobald Wolfe Tone to Gerry Adams. As founder (1858) and leader (until 1867) of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) as well as godfather to the American Fenians, Stephens breathed life into a clandestine transatlantic movement that eventually would create an independent Irish state. Ramon (National Univ. of Ireland, Maynooth) has produced an impressive biography of a cranky organizational genius described as being "charismatic but unlikable." Exhaustively researched in Ireland and the US, this readable book largely supersedes Desmond Ryan's 1967 study The Fenian Chief (CH, Nov'69), and amends the works of such authorities on the IRB and Fenianism as R. V. Comerford, William D'Arcy, and Leon O'Broin. Ramon makes sophisticated use of scattered details in correspondence, memoirs, police reports, and obscure newspapers to reconstruct Stephens' elusive activities in Ireland, Europe, and North America. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All Irish studies collections. D. M. Cregier University of Prince Edward Island