REBEL CITY is a study of the great labour revolt in Ireland and of the development of Irish trade unionism and syndicalism. It focuses on the relationship between Larkin and the Dublin labour movement, and considers the influence of syndicalism and Marxism in the theory and activity of James Connolly. Newsinger studies the condition of the Irish Labour in the years running up to the start of World War One: social, economic and cultural conditions, the influence of the Church, gender relations and the campaign for women's suffrage, the ideology of the republican movement, and developing traditions of labour solidarity and militancy. He chronicles the organisation of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, [ITGWU] and the impact of the IRISH WORKER newspaper. 1913 and 1914 were crucial years in Irish history: Newsinger considers the Dublin lockouts, [also studied by Yeates]. He puts these events in context looking at the relationship between the ITGWU and the Irish Volunteers, the impact of WW1, the formation of the Citizen Army, relations with the British Labour Movement, and Connolly's links with to the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
He discusses Sean O'Casey's views of this period and offers new perspectives on the Lock-outs defeat of 1913-14, on the political trajectory of James Connolly, and on the role of the working class in the Easter uprising of 1916.