Winner: Joseph Brant Award (2014), Ontario Historical Society Winner: Clio Prize (Ontario) (2014), Canadian Historical Association Winner: The James S. Donnelly Sr. Prize (2014), American Conference for Irish Studies Winner: Geographical Society of Ireland Book of the Year Award (2013-2015) In Between Raid and Rebellion, William Jenkins compares the lives and allegiances of Irish immigrants and their descendants in one American and one Canadian city between the era of the Fenian raids and the 1916 Easter Rising. Highlighting the significance of immigrants from Ulster to Toronto and from Munster to Buffalo, he distinguishes what it meant to be Irish in a loyal dominion within Britain’s empire and in a republic whose self-confidence knew no bounds. Jenkins pays close attention to the transformations that occurred within the Irish communities in these cities during this fifty-year period, from residential patterns to social mobility and political attitudes. Exploring their experiences in workplaces, homes, churches, and meeting halls, he argues that while various social, cultural, and political networks were crucial to the realization of Irish mobility and respectability in North America by the early twentieth century, place-related circumstances were linked to wider national loyalties and diasporic concerns. With the question of Irish Home Rule animating debates throughout the period, Toronto’s unionist sympathizers presented a marked contrast to Buffalo’s nationalist agitators. Although the Irish had acclimated to life in their new world cities, their sense of feeling Irish had not faded to the degree so often assumed. A groundbreaking comparative analysis, Between Raid and Rebellion draws upon perspectives from history and geography to enhance our understanding of the Irish experiences in these centres and the process by which immigrants settle into new urban environments.

William Jenkins is associate professor of geography and history at York University.

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“Jenkins’s work proves what diaspora scholars know: that ethnic identity is a complex concept shaped by many diverse elements. His comparison invites more studies of communities within the United States or the worldwide diaspora. This book should be on th

"Jenkins has written a big book of significant insight. He joins a very select group of scholars who have attempted full-scale comparative treatments and offers an incredibly rich and deep analysis." Irish Historical Studies

“Jenkins’s ability to fluently situate his work in the context of comparative urban studies will attract many historians of the Irish and non-Irish alike. Between Raid and Rebellion is a groundbreaking history of the Irish in North America with much to of

“This book is an important intervention into the histories of Buffalo, Toronto and, more broadly speaking, the Irish diaspora. Perhaps its greatest contribution will be in encouraging historians of immigrant communities to frame their research questions i

“This pioneering, scrupulous, elegant study af¬firms that unification and uniformity corner¬stones materialized according to local condi¬tions and cultural transplantations to generate distinct immigrant identities in Buffalo and Toronto. It sets a high a

“Utilizing an impressive array of documentary sources, the author demonstrates conclusively that in both urban centers, the Irish acculturated rather than assimilated, shaping their context, and in turn being shaped by it. Scholars and students of diaspora studies will find this volume insightful and informative for their discipline. Recommended.” Choice