Masked Raiders: Irish Banditry in Southern Africa, 1880-1899

Van Onselen (humanities, University of Pretoria) examines a little-known aspect of society in South Africa in the twenty years leading up to the Boer War, the Irish bandits. Ironically, he notes that many of them were trained for lives as outlaws on the mean streets of Manchester and in the British Army, which brought them to the region. Van Onselen looks at the phenomenon of the "Irish Brigade" who were equal-opportunity thieves, robbing rich, poor, black, white, British and Boer. He gives some background on individuals, such as Jack McBride, who ran a gang but couldn't convince his sister to leave the native chief she had married. The political climate is also considered as a reason for the early success of the bandits, along with the romantic Robin Hood myths told about them. Van Onselen also discusses the advent of middle-class Fenian men who became a second, very political, Irish Brigade, fighting against the British. He encourages other historians to look beneath the obvious polarizations to find the outsider groups that act as a trigger to set off major political events. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)