Using a wealth of previously unavailable archival material, this biography charts the political career of Robert Briscoe (1894–1969), revealing his significant influence within a developing and contentious Irish political culture, as well as reinforcing his importance for the global Zionist rescue effort of the 1930s.

Contents: 1894-1914 Prelude: A Jewish Formation in Nationalist Dublin – 1915-1921 Nationalist Awakening: A Republican Formation in Jewish Dublin, Revolutionary New York and Weimar Berlin – 1922-1926 The Irish Tragedy: Internecine Civil War, Anti-Semitism, Exile and Wilderness – 1927-1931 Republican Renaissance: Fianna Fáil and de Valera, the Voice of an Anti-Treaty Underclass – 1932-1934 Zionist Awakening: The Nazi Machtergreifung and Jewish Persecution – 1935-1937 Political Reality: Immigration Failure, League of Nations and the New Zionist Organisation (Revisionists) – 1938-1939 Political Dichotomy, Parochial Anti-Semitism and Revisionist Apex: Dublin Exclusionism and Missions to Poland, America and South Africa – 1940-1943 Political Retrenchment: Nationalist Reintegration and Zionist Withdrawal – 1944-1953 Irreconcilable Differences: Financial Difficulties, the Holocaust and the Birth of Israel – 1954-1969 Epilogue: A Political and Personal Swansong.

«The odyssey of Robert Briscoe […] is a fascinating one. He was at the crossroads of both Irish and Jewish nationalism. Kevin McCarthy has recovered his story for a wider audience and has thereby made an important contribution to Jewish as well as to Irish history.» (Colin Shindler, The Jewish Chronicle March 31, 2016)