Broken Archangel

byRoland Philipps

The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement

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Pioneering human rights campaigner, patriot, traitor, romantic and martyr. Broken Archangel is the life of Roger Casement, one of the twentieth century’s most complex and compelling figures.

In 1904, Casement became internationally celebrated for unearthing the grotesque, murderous violence of the Belgian Congo. Soon after he won even greater renown and a knighthood for his humanitarian work deep in the Amazon jungle.

But his internal fault lines ran deep: neither fully Irish nor English, baptised both Protestant and Catholic, desperate for love but forbidden intimacy, betrayed in his only significant relationship, he was of the English diplomatic establishment yet an outsider who fought for Irish nationhood. His final act in wartime Berlin – a doomed scheme to promote an invasion of Ireland – overwhelmed him, although his subsequent trial for treason brought him some resolution even as it took him to an unmarked prison grave.

Compassionate, self-deluding, courageous, altruistic, and plagued by poor health, Roger Casement was a contradictory figure made fallible by contemporary mores and his own powerful, unexamined emotions. Only decades later did an Irish state funeral finally assert his nobility above his notoriety – and only now can we fully understand his surprisingly modern and deeply relevant life and legacy.

Casement is the Odysseus of Roland Philipp's epic, Broken Archangel, and Philipps is a worthy chronicler. It is a book of meticulous sensitivity and research ... It is a model, in other words, for how to write a biography of a gay person who lived before widespread acceptance

Daily Telegraph

About Roland Philipps

Roland Philipps was a leading publisher for many years. A Spy Named Orphan, his first book, arose from lifelong connections to Donald Maclean and his story. It was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2018, was a Daily Mail Book of the Year and received widespread critical acclaim. His second book, Victoire, was published by The Bodley Head in 2021.
Details
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • ISBN: 9781847927071
  • Length: 400 pages
  • Dimensions: 242mm x 40mm x 163mm
  • Weight: 659g
  • Price: £25.00
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