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  • Published: 1 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9781446413333
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

Roger Casement's Diaries

1910:The Black and the White




Hanged by the British in 1916 for treason, still regarded in Ireland as a martyr of the nationalist cause, Roger Casement's 'Black and White' Diaries of 1910 provide an astonishing insight in to the mind of an exceptional man.

Born in Ireland in 1864 Roger Casement acted as British Consul in various parts of Africa (1895-1904) and Brazil (1906-11) where he denounced atrocities among Congolese and Putumayo rubber workers. knighted in 1911, He returned to Ireland, where as an ardent nationalist he attempted to enlist German help for the cause. He was hanged for high treason in London in 1916. A compulsive diary writer, his so-called 'Black' Diaries were finally released into the public domain in 1994. At the time of his trial, these diaries-detailing his promiscuous homosexual activities in Brazil-were used to condemn him and, subsequently, to poison his reputation. Published here for the first time-as are his more public 'White' Diaries of the same year-they not only offer the reader the opportunity to judge their authenticity-still a matter of heated debate-but they also take us deep into the mind of the bravest, most selfless and practical humanitarian of the Edwardian age.

  • Published: 1 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9781446413333
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

About the author

Roger Sawyer

Roger Sawyer was educated at Wycliffe College, the University of Wales, and the University of Southampton. He was awarded the T.G James Prize in Education and subsequently embarked on a school-mastering career. After a housemastership at The Blue Coat School, Edgbaston, he became Deputy Head, then Headmaster, of Bembridge Preparatory School. He presented his doctoral thesis entitled 'Origins and career of Roger Casement with particular reference to the development of his interest in the rights of dependent ethnic groups' in 1979. He took early retirement in 1983 and has since concentrated on writing. His books include Casement: The Flawed Hero (1984), Slavery in the Twentieth Century (1986), Children Enslaved (1988) and We are but Women: Women in Ireland's
History (1993).

In 1985 he received the Airey Neave Award for Research into Freedom under National Laws. He is a member of the Council of Anti-Slavery International.

Praise for Roger Casement's Diaries

Roger Sawyer is to be applauded for having presented, for the first time, an accurate text and detailed commentary

Independent