In the one hundred years that have passed since Michael Davitt's death, it is surprising that this celebrated Irish land and labor reform leader has not attracted more historical attention and analysis. Remembered popularly as the great Irish humanitarian of the nineteenth century, Davitt was a central figure in the creation of the Irish National Land League and Ireland's leading advocate for the urban and rural working classes worldwide. His reputation as a “man of the people” set him apart from most political leaders of his time. The son of famine evictees, Davitt's early life reflected the tribulations of many Irish families who immigrated and took factory work in British industrial centers. As a young man, nationalist sentiments led him to join the revolutionary Irish Republican Brotherhood, and activities in that organization resulted in his lengthy imprisonment for treason and arms trafficking. In the years that followed his release from prison, he worked with Irish parliamentarians to launch an attack of a different sort upon British power in Ireland. The Land League and the ensuing “Land War” of the early 1880s represent Davitt's most famous achievement and provided the foundation for his reputation as an Irish nationalist and class activist. For the remainder of his life, he did not limit himself to commenting upon Irish issues alone. Instead, his lasting image was as a man who—as one of many obituaries noted—devoted his life “to the Service of the poor and oppressed of all lands” (Bristol Evening News, 8 June 1906, Trinity College Dublin, Davitt Papers, MS 9626 [newspaper cuttings of Davitt's death, 1906]).

Most biographies of Davitt's life chronicle his work up to the end of the Land War. Until recently, the most thorough biographical work on him was T. W. Moody's impressive Davitt and Irish Revolution, 1846–1882 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1981). But Moody ended his book with the Kilmainham Treaty in 1882, concluding that, once the Land League was abandoned and the more moderate and less democratic National League was launched in its place, the period of Davitt's influence had come to an abrupt halt. Until recently, other academics seem to have concurred with Moody's estimation, and excepting Francis Sheehy-Skeffington's excessively laudatory work (1907) and an excellent but compact work by Carla King (1999), little attention has been paid to Davitt's later life. Scholars have not made appreciable use of the vast collection of materials pertaining to Davitt's later career that are housed in the Davitt Papers at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Laurence Marley's work, therefore, fills an enormous void in our scholarship, both in terms of his assessment of Davitt's life beyond the Land League years and in his painstakingly researched usage of Davitt's letters, diaries, draft speeches, newspaper articles, pamphlets, and numerous other related materials at TCD. The result is a book that presents crucial insights into Davitt's approach to nationalist and democratic politics, especially in his later years when his political ideologies matured and he more frequently asserted his own “freelance radicalism.”

Marley's biography rightly portrays his subject as untied to one specific ideological tradition or political party but motivated instead by a genuine (albeit Eurocentric) egalitarianism. Although his early years as a Fenian gunrunner left a lasting imprint upon his republican ideals, Davitt fell out with revolutionary societies in the early 1880s and pursued his own nationalist agenda from that point on. Despite his association with the Irish Parliamentary Party during and after the Land League years, Davitt frequently butted heads with the elected leadership and developed a reputation for criticizing its comparatively socially conservative agenda. Similarly, although he had “socialist tendencies” and was widely respected by many advocates of leftist politics, he rejected the socialist label, fearing that such ideologies would lead to the loss of individualism, liberty, and competition. In short, Davitt refused to simply adopt larger political ideologies and parties, clinging steadfastly to his cherished reputation as an independent, self-proclaimed defender of the poor and disenfranchised.

Marley's first chapter addresses Davitt's early life and activism through the period of the Land League. This adds little that is new to scholarship in this area, and understandably so. The strength in this work is in its focus upon areas of Davitt's life that have received comparatively little or no attention. One of the most impressive chapters is on his career in journalism. Davitt was a professional speaker and later a parliamentarian, but he earned his living as a journalist and correspondent for numerous newspapers throughout the world. He also edited his own short-lived newspaper, Labour World, in 1890. Marley delves into Davitt's “freelance crusading journalism” (128) and provides a detailed study of his attention to a wide variety of humanitarian causes and labor issues. Davitt's “peculiar radicalism” (165) sought a means of uniting the democratic masses of Britain and Ireland in a common demand for widespread social and political reforms, at the very heart of which stood the cause of Irish self-government.

There is a tendency among biographers (academics and nonacademics alike) to put Davitt on a pedestal because of his progressive views on topics such as prison reforms, economic development schemes, and women's rights. While Marley emphasizes many of these progressive activities, he does not shy away from what he describes as Davitt's “ambivalence toward non-European peoples” (265). He points out that, while Davitt combated imperialism in all its forms, he also was convinced that European culture was responsible for civilizing large sections of the globe. Hence, while he was relentless in his condemnation of the British Empire, he also employed many double standards and was apparently complacent about cultural imperialism and basic concepts of individual liberties among non-Europeans, whom he frequently referred to as “savages.”

Marley's research is admirable; his overall interpretation is right on the mark. More attention could have been given to Davitt's career in parliament, which was for him a rather difficult period marked by constant challenges and conflicts, in both his personal and political life. Still, on the whole Marley has produced a thoughtful and valuable study that adds greatly to our understanding and appreciation of one of Ireland's most remarkable, but often overlooked, historical figures.