Architects of the Resurrection: Ailtirí Na Haiséirghe and the Fascist 'New Order' in Ireland (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780719079986)

In 1942 Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, a young pro-Axis activist, founded Ailtirí na hAiséirghe ("Architects of the Resurrection"), a fascist movement that aimed to destroy the infant Irish democracy and replace it with a one-party totalitarian state.

But Ailtirí na hAiséirghe was no Nazi imitator. Rather, it aimed at something far more ambitious: the fusion of totalitarianism and Christianity that would make Ireland a "missionary-ideological state" wielding global influence in the postwar era. Supported by idealistic youths and mainstream politicians like Ernest Blythe, Oliver J. Flanagan and Dan Breen-and scrutinised anxiously by British and American intelligence-Aiséirghe won several seats in the 1945 local government elections.

Architects of the Resurrection casts an uncomfortable light on the popularity of anti-democratic, anti-Semitic and extremist ideas in wartime Ireland. Students of Irish history and of comparative fascism will find many new insights in this book.

Author: R. M. Douglas
ISBN-10: 0719079985
ISBN-13: 9780719079986
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/08/2009
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d