Fully Revised and Enlarged Edition with a new Foreword
Since his execution for high treason in 1916, Roger Casement has been lauded for his humanitarian activism in Africa and the Amazon. His life, however, has remained obscured behind speculation about his sexuality and his complicated contribution to Ireland’s revolutionary generation that took up arms against the British Empire. He lives on as an enduring enigma in the history of British-Irish relations—a figure who refuses easy categorisation, and whose legacy demands radical reconsideration.
Angus Mitchell traces the life of a man fatally divided between serving the empire and advancing demands for an independent Irish nation. Understanding his logical evolution from imperialist to revolutionary unmasks a coherent global dimension to the Irish struggle. The apparent contradictions of his life resolve into a singular commitment to humanity, justice, and universal principles of love and tolerance.
Beyond what it tells us about Casement’s fated path to the scaffold in Pentonville Prison, this biography invites readers to question the curation of national history, the hidden power of archives, and the lasting impact of state secrecy.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Secrets and Silences // 1
Early Life (1864–1882) // 19
Africa (1883–1904) // 33
Ireland (1904–1914) // 81
Brazil (1906–1913) // 103
Irish Volunteers (1913–1914) // 151
America and Germany (1914–1916) // 179
Easter Rising (1916) // 223
Trial and Execution (1916) // 243
Afterlife and Afterword (1916–2026) // 291
Selected Further Reading // 331
Notes // 335
Index // 371
About the Author :
Angus Mitchell has traced Roger Casement’s movements and paper trails across London, Belfast, Dublin, Berlin, New York, and the far reaches of Africa and South America for over three decades, unearthing inconvenient truths from the archive’s buried recesses. His groundbreaking editions of Casement’s writings – The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement, Sir Roger Casement’s Heart of Darkness: The 1911 Documents, and One Bold Deed of Open Treason: The Berlin Diary of Roger Casement 1914–16 – have reframed scholarly understanding of one of the modern world’s most enigmatic revolutionary intellectuals, and recovered essential perspectives on empire, the archive, decolonisation, and humanitarian activism. He is equally committed to critical pedagogy and his role as a public historian, using film and exhibition curation to challenge academic consensus and bring secret histories to wider audiences.
Mitchell’s research has appeared in the Journal of Victorian Culture, Women's History Review, Irish Historical Studies, The Scottish Historical Review, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. He lives in Ireland.
Review :
‘An original and vivid profile of a great but enigmatic man.’
'Mitchell's lucid biography is the best short life we have ... informed by his own extensive research ...'
'a fine monograph'.
