Michael Collins was shot dead in an ambush at Béal na mBláth, Co Cork, on 22 August 1922. The manner of his death and the identity of his killer have been the source of intense speculation and controversy ever since.In this book Meda Ryan solves the mystery. Drawing on eye-witness testimony never before published, she painstakingly reconstructs, in minute-by-minute detail, the last four days of Michael Collins’s life and follows, mile-by-mile, his fatal journey through his home cou...

Liam Lynch, Chief-of-Staff of the IRA, was known as 'The Chief' among Republicans, particularly in the First Southern Division. Many of his comrades have wondered why he did not get the recognition he deserved, even though he had been offered the position of Commander-in-Chief of the army in December 1921. Some felt that in the documentation of history, de Valera overshadowed him, while others thought that because of the firm stand he took in holding out for a republic, his deeds of braver...

Born in 1865 into a farming family of Fenian tradition near Fermoy in Co. Cork, Thomas Kent became involved in the Land League in the 1880s and lived for a time in Boston, where he was active in Irish cultural organisations. In 1889, back in Ireland he joined the fight against injustices and evictions and was imprisoned several times for his part in orchestrating a boycotting campaign.Dedicated to freeing Ireland, Thomas and his brothers mobilised in Co. Cork at Easter 1916 and wai...

Tom Barry: IRA Freedom Fighter chronicles the action-packed life of the Commander of the Third West Cork Flying Column, including the decisive Kilmichael ambush and the controversy regarding sectarianism during the 1920–22 period.Author, Meda Ryan, details his involvement on the fringes of the Treaty negotiations; his Republican activities during the Civil War; his engagement in the cease-fire/dump-arms deal of 1923; his term as the IRA's Chief of Staff and his participati...

Michael Collins and the Women Who Spied for Ireland is the first book to concentrate on the crucial role played by women in Collins's personal and working life. From his boyhood in an overwhelmingly female household in West Cork, women brought out the best in him and he brought out the best in them. Susan Killeen, his first girlfriend, remained a steadfast ally throughout his life. From 1917, his girlfriend, Madeline (Dilly) Dicker, helped to ease the burden of his huge workload a...