A new, updated paperback edition of an English translation of the memoirs of Gwynfor Evans, the most influential Welsh politician of the twentieth century, with a foreword by Dafydd Elis Thomas and a new epilogue by Steve Dubè. 9 black-and-white photographs. First published in 1996.

Argraffiad clawr meddal newydd wedi'i ddiweddaru o gyfieithiad Saesneg o atgofion Gwynfor Evans, y gwleidydd Cymreig mwyaf dylanwadol yn ystod yr ugeinfed ganrif, gyda rhagair gan Dafydd Elis Thomas ac epilog newydd gan Steve Dubè. 9 ffotograff du-a-gwyn. Cyhoeddwyd gyntaf yn 1996.

One of Gwynfor Evans’s fellow students at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in the 1930s commented later that he believed that, of his contemporaries, Gwynfor was the person least likely to have become President of Plaid Cymru. He was, after all, from the cosmopolitan south-east Wales seaport of Barry. He didn’t speak Welsh particularly fluently, let alone study it at university level. He revelled in cricket and hockey, rather than rugby. He was an activist in the pacifist and internationalist movement rather than in any Welsh cultural movement, and was an avid reader of the London-based New Statesman since his teenage years. Above all, he was very different from Saunders Lewis, the conservative anti-Marxist who led the Nationalist Party from 1926 to 1939. And yet, when Gwynfor Evans became president of the party in 1945, he was so in tune with the movement that he would remain at the helm for almost forty years.

In For the Sake of Wales. The Memoirs of Gwynfor Evans, he provides a highly personal account of his middle-class, Nonconformist upbringing in Barry, his transformation from a typical Anglo-British youngster, who as a teenager even proposed that the church he attended should abandon Welsh in favour of English, into an enthusiastic member of the Welsh Nationalist Party after being convinced by the economic case in favour of Welsh self-government advanced by Dr D. J. Davies. The book describes his lifelong struggle to lift the party into the forefront of Welsh political life. It brims over with memories of colourful personalities and fascinating reflections on Welsh history and the development of Welsh nationalism. Gwynfor Evans has played a pivotal role in that development since the Second World War, emphasising non-violent ballot-box campaigning and becoming Plaid Cymru’s first MP at the Carmarthen by-election of 1966. It was under his leadership that Plaid began to become acceptable to Welsh voters previously familiar only with British-wide politics.

Though not updated since first published in Welsh in 1982, this new edition of For the Sake of Wales contains an epilogue by Steve Dubé. It records Gwynfor Evans’s opinion that the creation of the Welsh National Assembly in 1999 means that ‘this old country has a secure future’. The volume provides a valuable insight into the personality of the man whose single-minded commitment was instrumental in putting the claims of Welsh nationhood back on the political agenda, opening the way for devolution.

Hywel Davies

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth isod: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.