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David Sims looks to the international triangle of the United States, Ireland and Britain in his book A Union Forever: The Irish Question and U.S. Foreign Relations in the Victorian Age. The book details the Irish struggle for independence and the relationship between not only foreign governments but migrants as well. A Union Forever is a continuation of the international conversation that began in Eli Gould’s work Among the Powers of the Earth. In Sims’ work, the United States is still struggling to become recognized as an international power, more in regards to international politics at this time than as an international economic power. As Andrew Kelly stated in his blog post on Gould America is in a sense still trying to pacify our neighborhood. This time the pacification came as a result of mass immigration after the great Irish Famine. America had a number of new citizens in which to cater to within the political realm and this influenced political stances and party politics. What I found completely fascinating within the book was the way both parties tended to agree on what needed to be done, especially during the time of the repeal movement, but not why they should be supporting the movement. Curiously, Britain lacked a major presence in the book. Though in history their policies and views towards the Irish struggle would have had a large impact on the United States political players, but in the book Britain is only a bit player and often in the background with no real agency in the events that occurred.
Chapter two with its emphasis on charity was also very compelling. The logistics behind the scenes for American political players was a new question I had never considered. The question of private charity does show a long standing United States behavioral manner of sending charity when large disasters occur. The question of the government of the United States being able to step in and offer aid as a constitutional issue threw me. Growing up in a time when international aid is often utilized as part of a goodwill foreign policy gesture, one doesn’t consider the often behind the scenes questions that arise out of such a policy.
Reading this book was a study in frustration for me. I am not quite familiar with this topic and I believe the book was written for someone who had a basic sense of the events discussed. I often found myself back checking events and people as they were introduced to the story with little to no background. Just as often, events were side mentioned that I wish had been explored deeper. One such event occurred in the first couple of chapters with the story of O’Connell. While reading about events, all of a sudden O’Connell was on trial. The book does not mention in the text that I could find anything regarding an arrest of the events surrounding it. But the author delves into the impact of the trial on charity and repeal efforts. I really tried to like this book and I found the subject absorbing, but the hindrance of going back and forth numerous times to research so many people and events made this reading often frustrating and impeded my enjoyment and openness to learning through this book.