The National Being

Writing under his pen name AE, the poet and social reformer George William Russell set down here his vision for a self-governing Ireland, published in 1916 as the country moved toward independence. Drawing on years spent organizing agricultural cooperatives among Irish farmers, he argues that a nation is built not only through politics and economics but through a shared spiritual and cultural ideal. He sketches how rural communities, education, and cooperative effort might shape a distinctive national character rather than a mere copy of industrial Britain. Idealistic and wide-ranging, the book reads as a thoughtful manifesto for the kind of country Russell hoped Ireland might become. A free PDF and EPUB edition are available here.