This is the fascinating story of a secret revolutionary society, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which succeeded after 65 years in wrestling most of Ireland from the British Empire.'

How the British Secret Service failed to neutralize Sinn Fein and the IRA

Second Edition --- This book analyzes the ideology and organizational traditions of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), its role in Irish politics and its place in Irish history. While the IRB has long been associated with the insurrections of 1867 and 1916, Owen McGee argues that it was never primarily an insurrectionary conspiracy; rather it was a popular fraternal organization and propagandistic body, committed to bringing about popular politicization in Ireland along republican lines. Focusing primarily on the new departures in Irish politics between the land war of 1879-81 and the outbreak of the 1st World War, this study identifies this period as being a critical phase in the evolution of modern Irish republicanism, as well as being the pivotal stage in the history of the IRB itself. It throws fresh light on the social and political origins of the Irish revolution of 1912-23, as well as the IRB's intended political role during that eventful epoch. Prominent members included: Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, Bulmer Hobson, Eamonn Ceannt and Edward Daly (the latter two fought in 1916 and were executed as a result of their involvement).

Historian and IRA leader Florence O'Donoghue describes his experiences as head of intelligence in Cork city during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). He candidly assesses the leaders of this period, including Tomas MacCurtain, Sean O'Hegarty, Terence MacSwiney and Michael Collins and critically examines the evolution of the Irish Volunteer citizen-soldiers. He also details his wife Josephine's role as the top IRA spy in Cork's British Army headquarters, working for the rebels in exchange for the return of her eldest son, lost in a bitter custody battle with her in-laws. After O'Donoghue kidnapped the child and reunited him with his mother, the two collaborators eventually fell in love and were secretly married in the spring of 1921. Forty years later, the couple presented their story to their children in order to explain the family secret that had haunted their domestic lives. The first part of the book is O'Donoghue's and his wife's account of their activities in the Anglo-Irish War, written in 1961; the second part is composed of 47 letters in diary form, written by O'Donoghue to his wife while he was 'on the run' during the last ten weeks of the Anglo-Irish War, from May to July 1921. They provide a rare snapshot of the daily life of fugitive IRA guerrillas.

Non-fiction Biography / history Ireland - War of Independence/Civil War Description: "Sigerson's work, obviously written from the heart, is a valuable contribution to the literature on Michael Collins, and should be available in any self-respecting Irish library. " - TIM PAT COOGAN A startling new perspective on Ireland's most notorious "cold case": the fatal shooting in 1922 of Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of newly-independent Ireland. Sigerson's controversial reconstruction of the ambush may be shocking to some: yet demonstrably fits the eyewitness accounts. This is the first re-examination of Collins' mysterious death in decades; carrying on where John Feehan's landmark edition of 1991 left off. It offers the most complete overview of the evidence ever published.

Traces the life of the man who negotiated for Irish independence and describes the political background of the times. Bibliog.