Exciting event coming to Wexford for history lovers

An exciting event will be taking place in Wexford soon…

On Thursday, 13 November, the National 1798 Rebellion Centre will be hosting an event in celebration of historian James Quinn’s new book, Bloody Summer: A New History of the 1798 Rebellion.

JAMES QUINN is a historian who has writen widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
Ireland, particularly in the areas of biography and historiography.

Together with historian Kevin Whelan and local experts, the National Rebellion Centre in Enniscorthy will recognise the significance of the publication of Bloody Summer and its author’s contribution to this historical period of study.

Kevin Whelan is one of Ireland’s best known and widely published scholars, and was the inaugural Notre Director of the University of Notre Dame in Dublin. He has been a visiting professor at New York University, Boston College and Concordia University (Montreal).

Speaking to James, he said that he’s particularly excited to bring the launch to Enniscorthy:

“We’re particularly excited to bring Bloody Summer to Enniscorthy because Quinn’s perspective offers a significant contribution to our understanding of the role of County Wexford in the rebellion, and further expands upon the legacy of this seismic event. The National 1798 Rebellion Centre itself was made a permanent exhibition due to prominent local interest – it was established in 1998 through a massive community effort. Like the Centre, Bloody Summer recognises how we still live with the ideological and practical consequences of the rebellion today.”

“This new history offers a fresh and comprehensive exploration of 1798 as a year of unrest, and highlights how the bloody climax of a decade of radicalism and reaction saw the emergence of new forms of militant republicanism and popular loyalism that strongly influenced the course of Irish history,” he told Wexford Weekly.

Bloody Summer is a fresh and comprehensive exploration of the rebellion that seeks to
answer the question of not just what happened in 1798, but why it happened, and provides
a new, thought provoking, and compelling account of this seismic event in Irish history.