Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Big Fellow, Long Fellow: A Joint Biography of Collins and de Valera

Big Fellow, Long Fellow: A Joint Biography of Collins and de Valera

Dwyer, T. Ryle

Paperback

Historical FiguresPolitical BiographiesIrish History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0717140849
ISBN13: 9780717140848
Publisher: Gill Books
Published: Sep 12 2006
Pages: 378
Weight: 1.05
Height: 1.34 Width: 5.04 Depth: 7.72
Language: English
Collins and de Valera emerge as contrasting leaders whose rivalry shaped Ireland's path to independence.

Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera were the two most charismatic leaders of the Irish revolution. This joint biography looks first at their very different upbringings and early careers.

Both fought in the 1916 Easter Rising, although it is almost certain they did not meet during that tumultuous week. Their first encounter came when Collins had been released from jail after the rising but de Valera was still inside. Collins was one of those who wanted to run a Sinn Féin candidate in the Longford by-election of 1917. De Valera and other leaders opposed this initiative but the Collins group went ahead anyway and the candidate won narrowly. The incident typified the relationship between the two men: they were vastly different in temperament and style. But it was precisely in their differences and contradictions that their fascination lay. De Valera, the political pragmatist, hoped to secure independence through political agitation, whereas the ambitious Collins, with his restless temperament and boundless energy, was an impassioned patriot who believed in terror and assassination.

T. Ryle Dwyer examines the years, 1917-22 through the twists and turns of their careers. In an epilogue, he considers the legacy of Collins on de Valera's political life.

This is an excellent book and goes far to giving a rounder picture of the relationship between the two men than some earlier works. In particular, Collins emerges as a pretty good schemer himself, being a brilliant networker through his control of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, his contacts in the police and civil bureaucracies in both Britain and Ireland and through his connections in the world of shipping and communications...one thing that comes out of Dwyer's analysis very starkly is de Valera's fantastic self-confidence or self-righteousness, depending on one's point of view...a well-written, competent and fair-minded book. --Tom Garvin, Irish University Review.

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