Book Review: Commonwealth of Nations: The Irish Republic
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Author | Nicholas Mansergh |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206602100327 |
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
390
INTERNATIONAb,
JOURNAL
he
who
shapes
the
policies
and
represents
the
Administration
in
Africa,
Europe,
the
Middle
East
and
on
such
issues as
international
security
affairs,
economic
relations,
cultural
affairs.
The
office
was
regarded
as
of
sufficient
importance
that
President
Kennedy
"promoted"
it
by
naming
Governor
Williams
Assistant
Secretary
of
State
for
African
Affairs
before
appointing
the
Secretary
of
State,
and
Governor
Harri-
man
moved
to
be
Assistant
Secretary
of
State
for
the
Far
East
from
a
more
august
but
less operational post
as
Under
Secretary
of
State.
With
these
facts
in
mind,
it is
sobering
to
learn,
from
this
book,
that
about
650
men have
been
of
this
rank
and position
under
the
last
three
admimstrations.
This
study
endeavours,
on
the
basis
of
a
massive
interview
pro-
gramme,
to
ascertain
a
pattern
in
the
background,
recruitment,
presi-
dential
interest
in the
choice
of,
and
motivation
of
a
sample group
of
assistant
secretaries.
Very
little
is
said
about
the
role
of
these
men
in
government,
but
as
far
as
it
goes
the
study
is
a
valuable contribution
to
an
analysis
of
the
American
administrative
process.
University
of
Chicago
WILLIAm
R.
POLK
Commonwealth
of
Nations
THE
IRISH
REPUBLIC.
A
Documented Chronicle
of
the
Anglo-Irish
Con-
flict
and
the
Partitiomng
of
Ireland,
with
a
detailed account
of
the
Period
1916-1923.
By
Dorothy
Macardle.
1965.
(New
York:
Farrar,
Straus
and
Giroux.
Toronto:
Ambassador
Books.
1045pp.
$12.50)
This
American edition
of
the
late
Miss
Dorothy
Macardle's
standard
work,
first
published
in
London
in
1937
with revised editions
appearing
in
1938
and
1951,
is
to
be welcomed
on
its
own
account
and also
because
of
the
timeliness
of
its
appearance
on
the
eve
of
the
fiftieth
anniversary
celebrations
of
the
Proclamation
of
the
Irish
Republic
on
Easter
Day
1916.
Miss
Macardle's
book
is
the
only
full
record
of
the
history
of
the
Irish
Republic
from
the
time
of
its
first
proclamation
to
"the
Republic
defeated"
with
the
ending
of
the
Irish
civil
war
in
1923
and
the
final
settlement
of
1925.
It
has
its
point
of
view-clearly
stated
and
per-
suasively
presented.
But
more
important,
as
time
passes,
is
the
record
itself.
Politics,
for
the
most
part,
is
made
up
not
of
great,
decisive
events,
but
of
the
accumulation
of
incidents.
And
without
knowledge
of
the
sequence
of
incidents and
the
relation
of
personalities
to
them,
their
meaning
is
apt
to
be
lost,
often
for
ever.
This
is
where
Miss
Macardle
contributes
so
much.
Her
narrative,
while
not
strictly
con-
temporary
none
the
less
recaptures
the
spirit
of
the
times,
the mixture
of
idealism
and
calculation-one
suspects
she
underestimates
the
latter
-behind
the
Easter
Rising,
the
delayed
reaction
to
the
dragging
execu-
tions,
the
organization
of
the
Irish
Republican
Army
the
setting
up
of
an
Irish
government
side
by
side
with
the
British, the
relationship
of
republican
government
to
republican
army
the
years
of
warfare,
of
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