Big Fellow, Long Fellow [Hardcover]

T. Ryle Dwyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999 | ISBN-10: 0312219199 | ISBN-13: 978-0312219192

Examining the years 1917-22, this biography traces the parallel careers and political lives of Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, two leaders of the Irish revolution who were very different in temperament and style. It also considers the legacy of Collins on de Valera's later political life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Dwyer (De Valera: Man and the Myths, Dufour Editions, 1992) adds this title to his lengthy publications list on 20th-century Irish history. Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera led opposing forces in the 1916 Irish Civil War. Dual biographies like this one work well when the subjects have great distances between them (e.g., Stephen Ambrose's Crazy Horse & Custer, Doubleday, 1996), but there is relatively little ground between de Valera and Collins. Both were rebel leaders, both fought for an Irish Republic. Their differences are real but not enough to support this approach. Much has been written on this era and these subjects, and Dwyer seems to be resifting the same known facts. His invective at de Valera is perhaps presented more forcefully here than elsewhere. Though well written, the book breaks virtually no new ground. For exhaustive Irish history collections only.ARobert C. Moore, Raytheon, Sudbury, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An exhaustively researched, skillfully written joint biography of Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, whose contrasting legacies shaped the history of 20th-century Ireland. Collins was a brilliant guerrilla leader who deployed selective assassination and deft counterintelligence to cripple Britain's colonial administration of Ireland. So successful was Collins at rendering Ireland ungovernable that in 1922 British Prime Minister Lloyd George was compelled to seek a negotiated withdrawal. Collins was a realist: His token participation in the failed Easter Rising of 1916 taught him that idealists made the worst wartime leaders. His lifelong contempt for politicians contributed to his eventual break with de Valera. While Collins was mercurial, quick-minded, and gregarious, de Valera was methodical, slow- moving, and introspective. Irish historian Dwyer argues convincingly that the Collinsde Valera split was as much personal as political. Both men were ambitious and often unscrupulous in attaining their goals. De Valera, elected president of Ireland, feared Collins's popularity and control of the army; Collins considered de Valera an untrustworthy demagogue. When de Valera ordered Collins to negotiate a peace treaty with Britain, a job for which he was particularly ill-suited, Collins suspected a trap. ``To me the task is a loathsome one,'' said Collins. ``If I go, I go in the spirit of a soldier who acts against his judgment at the orders of a superior officer.'' When an exhausted Collins returned from London with a peace treaty, de Valera attacked it as pro-British and implied that Collins had betrayed Ireland. Collins defended the treaty as a first step to full independence. The debate over the Anglo-Irish treaty triggered a bloody civil war, during which Collins was killed by anti-treaty forces. De Valera would remain president of Ireland for most of the next 50 years. An essential book for anyone interested in understanding the personal and political dynamics behind the fateful Collinsde Valera rift. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312219199
• ISBN-13: 978-0312219192
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,893,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Contrasting Worlds of Collins and De Valera, August 29, 2001

By 

Dustin Eric Buehler (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Fellow, Long Fellow (Hardcover)

T. Ryle Dwyer's joint biography on Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera is a striking comparison and contrast of the two most important figures in twentieth-century Irish history. Dwyer's examination of the influence of Collins and De Valera on the events leading to the recognition of the Irish Free State, and subsequently the Irish Republic, highlights the dramatically different leadership styles, personalities, and crisis strategies of the Big Fellow and Long Fellow.
This book is well researched, well written, and well organized. Many joint biographies fail in their efforts to flawlessly intertwine the lives of two radically different individuals. Dwyer moves back and forth from Collins to De Valera with skill and grace, and in a manner that demarcates their differences clearly to the reader. Dwyer's work also gives ample background of Irish and global events that led to the treaty with Britain, providing a context for readers unfamiliar with Irish history.
The chapters on the early childhood of both De Valera and Collins are particularly well researched and effectively presented. Dwyer draws lines between several influential childhood events and the leadership style and personality that both leaders assumed later in life. Additionally, Dwyer's examination of Collins' role in the partitioning of Northern Ireland is exceptional. Overall, this book serves as a definitive study of the two most prominent figures in modern Irish history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two Very Different Fellows, October 26, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Big Fellow, Long Fellow (Hardcover)

An informative and interesting account of the lives and times of the two most famous leaders of the Irish fight for independence from Britain. While not as detailed or as exhaustively researched as other books on the two men, it is of particular interest because it presents them together and explores the contrasts between them which ultimately led to their split and the devastating civil war in Ireland, which was more tragic by far than the war against Britain. The theory of the book is that the difference in the background and upbringing of the two accounts for the eventual animosity between them--DeValera, the cold, reserved, patriotic and manipulative product of a dislocated and not very secure childhood, and Collins, the much-loved youngest child in a large, cohesive family, whose volatile, intelligent, charismatic personality created both enemies and almost fanatically loyal adherents. The contrasts are engrossing and illuminating, and the book is well worth reading to understand the dynamics behind the Irish War of Independence.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Big Fellow, Long Fellow, August 27, 2000

By 

L. Waite (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Big Fellow, Long Fellow (Hardcover)

Picking this up by cahnce I was surprised by the details T. Ryle Dwyer went into. Such intimate looks into the personality's and the main hops, skips and jumps that went along with these two great men's lives. Highly enjoyable and hard to leave at home! Easy to read and sometimes fairly amusing.