Aristocrats and itinerants, unionists and nationalists, Catholics and Protestants – the Great War united thousands of Clare men and women to a cause for which many of them would go out to fight and die. Their motives varied from a sense of duty to 'king and country' to concern about the fate of 'poor Catholic Belgium'; from mercenary motives, fuelled by poverty, to the moral duty to fight for civilization against the 'savage Huns'. Some followed 'Redmond's call' to secure Home Rule, while others enlisted for sheer adventure. The work attempts, for the first time, to understand what really happened in County Clare during the Great War, how its economic and political life was radically transformed during this terrible conflict, and how the contribution of those who gave their lives was largely written out of history.'

The Irish Civil War was contested as bitterly in Clare as in any other part of Ireland. The pattern of the war in the country was similar to the military conflict at national level, with a brief conventional phase when the Free State government forces captured all the main cities and towns, which was followed by a longer period of guerrilla warfare. This work examines the nature of that bitter conflict in this historic county.

Vols. 1- include the sections: Writings on Irish history, 1936-1979; Research on Irish history in Irish, British and American universities, 1937/8-