This is the first full-length, annotated and referenced biography of George William Russell, better known by his pen-name - A.E., ‘that myriad-minded man’ as Archbishop Gregg called him, was a mystic, visionary, poet, artist, pacifist and patriot, aspects balanced by (as with most true mystics) extremely pratcial facets as economist, journalist, and ardent supporter and organiser of Sir Horace Plunkett’s Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, travelling through every county in Ireland talking to the farms about the advantages of co-operatives. He was editor of The Irish Homestead and then The Irish Statesman. In 1932, as a result of his vast experience in the field, he was invited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to come to America to advise them on Co-operation, an invitation he accepted.

For years A.E. has been overshadowed by greater contemporaries, particularly his friend and ‘enemy’ W.B.Yeats, with whom he agreed to differ on occult matters, for A.E.remained strongly influenced by Theosophical teachings while Yeats did not. Russell was the greatest visionary of his time and we are fortunate that as he was an artist (whose pictures are becoming increasingly valued), we have the visual records of the wonderful beings that he ‘saw’.

Few in history have led such a many-sided life as he - a ‘complete’ man, a great man, who has been unjustly neglected since his death nearly sixty-five years ago.

25/01/05