Amazon.com description: Product Description: From personal letters and other sources, Stella Tillyard has re-created the life of a headstrong young aristocrat who died a martyred rebel for the cause of Irish independence. Lord Edward Fitzgerald joined the British army as a teenager, but radical sentiments soon prevailed over loyalty to the Crown. In North America in 1787, he spent time with the Iroquois; back in Europe, he became a disciple of Thomas Paine and joined the Irish underground. Even his love life was political-from his tragic affair with the wife of Richard Brinsley Sheridan to his marriage to the daughter of a French republican. Lord Edward was plotting for Ireland's independence when, as the bloody rebellion of 1798 raged around him, he was mortally wounded by British soldiers.