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Library Journal Review

Johanna Mary (Hanna) Sheehy (1877-1946) was the daughter of a well-to-do Irish family who were prominent in Catholic, nationalist, and intellectual circles in late 19th-century Dublin. She became an advocate of women's suffrage and, eventually, of all feminist ideas, and opposed militant nationalism with pacifism and narrow, sectarian Catholicism with agnosticism and internationalism. She was supported and abetted by her husband, Francis Skeffington, until he was executed by British troops in a strange and disturbing incident of the 1916 rebellion. Hanna continued her activism for 30 years longer. This detailed, albeit somewhat plodding, biography is recommended for extensive collections of women's studies and Irish history. John Moran, SUNY Coll. at Fredonia Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

From Syracuse's Irish Studies series comes this excellent biography of an exceptional, determined woman. Sheehy-Skeffington (18771946) disavowed her churchno light matter in the Ireland of her timewas considered a leftist, waged unceasing battles for women's rights and for peaceful political solutions to her country's problems, and was ``assertive'' long before it was fashionable. Ideally matched with Francis Skeffington (who attached her name to his own when they were married), she was a major figure in the Irish scene during the first half of the 20th century. After the murder of Francis at the behest of a British officer, Hanna continued to serve the cause of freedom as editor, author and lecturer popular on the American circuit as well as at home. Levenson wrote With Wooden Sword, a biography of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington; Natterstad is a professor of English who writes on Irish subjects. (March 24) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Sheehy-Skeffington struggled passionately all her life to obtain dignity and worth for both the men and women of Ireland. Epitomizing the strife and turmoil of the early 20th century, she gave unstintingly to feminist, nationalist, socialist, and pacifist causes. When her husband, Francis, was murdered during the Easter Rebellion in 1916 by a crazed British officer, she ensured that the British government knew no rest until it had conducted an official inquiry into the affair. Sheehy-Skeffington herself served innumerable prison terms for myriad political offenses-against both Britain and the Irish Free State-and generally bested the authorities through hunger strikes until she was released. As Margaret MacCurtain pointed out in her foreword, it is not coincidental that a biography of so prickly a figure has only now come out; Sheehy-Skeffington's commitment to equality and freedom for all individuals was not welcome in a conservative, even repressive Irish state. Levenson and Natterstad's study is a welcome addition to feminist and Irish history, though it has some weaknesses. This is a narrative work; the issues that so consumed Sheehy-Skeffington are largely left unanalyzed. Moreover, the nonspecialist in Irish history will have difficulty following Sheehy-Skeffington as she runs up against the various political authorities. One wishes that the intricacies of the home rule conflict and of the civil war had been rendered more explicit. Nevertheless, this book will be useful to a wide range of readers and is recommended for graduate, undergraduate, and public libraries.-S.K. Kent, SUNY at Albany