Michael Hopkinson (1944–2016)

This is a very well written book, like Hopkinson's works before and since. While MacArdle's "The Irish Republic" remains the main piece of work for this area of Irish history this book is a useful piece and can be viewed as an updated appendix to same. I would see "Green against Green" as a superior work with more original ideas than this one. The Consequences section of the book contains the most new information but overall the descriptions of the conflict in the various counties are highly show more readable and provide sources for those who want to pursue their own additional research. show less

An excellent analysis of how the Irish Civil War progressed. What this book uses is a unique approach which examines how the Civil War came to develop and progress by focusing on the how and why rather than by focusing on the main protagonists on either side of the conflict and apportioning blame. The book identifies de Valera as a minor peripheral figure in the conflict largely ignored by the central military figures on the anti-treaty side for the duration of the war and also expostulating show more how his ideas on developing a political approach to advance the republican cause, which became Fianna Fáil, came into being. show less