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A review by siria
Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber: The Extraordinary Life of Rose Dugdale by Sean O'Driscoll
informative
3.75
Rose Dugdale, who died just a few months ago, led a tumultuous life. Born into a wealthy, upper middle class English family, she was a court-presented debutante and holder of a doctorate in economics. In the early 1970s, she abandoned life as she knew it to travel to Ireland and join the IRA. Sean O’Driscoll’s biography recounts what happened next, and how Dugdale became notorious thanks to her connections with the Russborough House robbery, bombing campaigns, a secret prison pregnancy and subsequent wedding, and the Herrema kidnapping.
Dugdale's actions in the 70s/early 80s are well known, at least to Irish people; the strength of O'Driscoll's work is in his research into her early life and the period after she left prison, when she continued to work on bomb logistics while also getting involved in anti-drug campaigns in inner-city Dublin.
O'Driscoll is I think fair-handed in his account of Dugdale and her career: acknowledging the genuine conviction of her views and her desire to help others, but also clear-eyed about the suffering her actions caused. He leaves the question of motivation up to the reader to decide. For me, I think it was a dangerous brew of idealism, oppositional defiant disorder, and narcissism—when asked what was the happiest day of her life, Dugdale responds "The bombing in Strabane. Yes, it really was the first time I felt like I was really at the centre of things." For someone who was so much about anticolonial rhetoric, she sure did seem to think she knew what was best for Irish people.
Dugdale's actions in the 70s/early 80s are well known, at least to Irish people; the strength of O'Driscoll's work is in his research into her early life and the period after she left prison, when she continued to work on bomb logistics while also getting involved in anti-drug campaigns in inner-city Dublin.
O'Driscoll is I think fair-handed in his account of Dugdale and her career: acknowledging the genuine conviction of her views and her desire to help others, but also clear-eyed about the suffering her actions caused. He leaves the question of motivation up to the reader to decide. For me, I think it was a dangerous brew of idealism, oppositional defiant disorder, and narcissism—when asked what was the happiest day of her life, Dugdale responds "The bombing in Strabane. Yes, it really was the first time I felt like I was really at the centre of things." For someone who was so much about anticolonial rhetoric, she sure did seem to think she knew what was best for Irish people.