Thomas Meagher, Forgotten Father of Thomas Francis Meagher (Irish Academic Press) THE first thing that strikes you when lifting up this biography of Thomas Meagher is the title. The author feels the need to explain his subject by referencing him to his more illustrious son, the charismatic Young Ireland leader whose star shone and fell over a relatively short period in the politically charged 1840s in Ireland, but whose name lives on today. The father, on the other hand, was a political activist for more than 40 years. An ardent O’Connellite he helped shape political nationalism in the decades leading up to the Famine, both in his adopted city of Waterford and nationally. Eugene Broderick’s excellent biography on Meagher not only gives us an insight into the man dedicated to the cause of his beleaguered country and people, but also explores the relationship with his son, whose own exploits in the cause of Irish freedom would see him emerge from his father’s shadow and leave th