Luminous traitor
Subtitle: the just and daring life of Roger Casement, a biographical novel
By: Martin Duberman
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2019
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
ISBN-13: 9780520298880
Subjects: Indians of South America; Fiction; Autonomy and independence movements; Human rights workers; History
Description: "Roger Casement was an internationally renowned figure at the beginning of the 20th century, famous for exposing the widespread atrocities against the indigenous people in King Leopold's Congo and his subsequent exposure--for which he was knighted in 1911--of the brutal conditions of enslaved labor in Peru. An Irish nationalist of profound conviction, he attempted, at the outbreak of World War I, to obtain German support and weapons for an armed rebellion against British rule. Apprehended and convicted of treason in a notorious trial that captured worldwide attention, Casement was sentenced to die on the gallows. A powerful petition drive for the commutation of his sentence was inaugurated by George Bernard Shaw and a host of other influential figures. A gay man, Casement kept detailed diaries of his sexual escapades, and the British government, upon discovering the diaries, circulated its pages to public figures, thereby crippling what had been a mounting petition for clemency. In 1916, he was hanged. In this gripping reimagining, acclaimed historian Martin Duberman paints a full portrait of the man for the first time. Tracing his evolution from servant of the empire to his work as a humanitarian activist and anti-imperialist, Duberman resurrects and recognizes all facets--from the professional to the personal--of the fantastic life of this pioneer for human rights"--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: The years of innocence; title: The Congo; title: The Putumayo; title: Ireland; title: The trial and its aftermath.