America and the Making of an Independent Ireland

A major contribution to the study of Irish nationalism, Carroll's impressive and magisterial analysis of Irish and American relationships between 1916 and 1928 demonstrates that American diplomatic recognition of the Irish Free State was a major contribution to its standing by helping to establish its legitimacy after the Irish Civil War. -- Maureen Murphy, Professor Emerita of Teaching, Learning and Technology, Hofstra University
Lucidly written and exhaustively researched, this is an abundantly readable and definitive study which confirms unequivocally the decisive role played by Irish American organizations in support of Ireland’s long aspired quest for national statehood. Francis Carroll’s study lends clarity to the occasionally contested date as to when in fact Ireland actually achieved sovereign independence. What this book makes clear is how international recognition of Ireland’s independent sovereign status was manifestly achieved under William Cosgrave’s government in 1928. -- Thomas E. Hachey, University Professor of History Emeritus, Boston College
This is a much-needed and robust account of the role that the American government, polity and the public had in shaping an independent Ireland from 1916 to 1928. The complexities of the relationship between the nations is clearly outlined in a work that is highly readable and enjoyable. This body of scholarly work also offers readers an opportunity to admire and value Francis Carroll’s defining contribution to American-Irish diplomatic and political relations in the early twentieth century. -- Professor emeritus Bernadette Whelan. Member Royal Irish Academy, University of Limerick, Ireland
Published one hundred years after the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Carroll’s book is an important contribution to the ongoing reappraisal of the Irish-American relationship. * H-Net Reviews *
Carroll’s stimulating, exhaustively researched, and impressive contribution to the study of Irish nationalism through Irish American diplomatic relations looks set to impose itself as the definitive benchmark, one hundred years after the establishment of Dáil Éireann. * American Historical Review *
Professor Carroll has given us a very useful synthesis of his decades of study of America and Ireland in the revolutionary period that will be of interest to students and scholars of Irish America, U.S.-Irish relations and ethnic politics in the United States in the first quarter of the twentieth century. * Irish Historical Studies *
A compendium if not an opus of work on the contribution of the Irish diaspora, though also of US government contributions in particular, to the struggle for Irish statehood. * Diplomacy & Statecraft *
Carroll’s important new publication shows how British politicians have long had to consider the impact of the relationship between America and Ireland in their handling of Irish affairs. His insightful work should appeal to a wide audience with an interest in Irish and American history but also to those keen to gain a nuanced understanding of how the Irish revolution and its aftermath affected Britain’s relationship with the United States. * English Historical Review *