The Day Michael Collins Was Shot [Paperback]

Meda Ryan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: Dufour Editions (January 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853710415
• ISBN-13: 978-1853710414
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,999,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Our Lost Leader, May 10, 2000

By 

Thomas Murphy (Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day Michael Collins Was Shot (Paperback)

After reading a number of books on Michael Collins I found this book to be one of the most interesting on the shelves. The author gives a brief background of Collins life, what influenced his views and why he signed the Treaty. As the title suggests this book concentrates mainly on the last days of Michael Collin's life. There is an in-depth look at how he was killed and who fired the fatal shot. Interviews included are with those who took part in the Beal na mBlath ambush. I would highly recommed this book, even to anyone who has a slight interest in Michael Collins.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Last Days of a Hero, January 12, 2000

By 

Daniel Murphy (Mass) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Day Michael Collins Was Shot (Paperback)

This book is a quick read that provides good detail of the last days of MIchael Collins' life and the months leading up to his assassination. If you are interested in what he did before he was shot and a theory of his death then you should read this book. The book focuses on the assassination of Collins and the politics surrounding it. It gives great detail of the final day and the attack itself so if that interests you it would be a good book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing Research into Collins's Assassination, March 28, 2002

By 

Sara (OK, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day Michael Collins Was Shot (Paperback)

Meda Ryan attempts to tackle a very difficult task: determining who shot Michael Collins on that ill-fated day in 1922. In the book's preface, Ryan shares her reasons for wanting to examine the topic and her research methods in compiling the book. In Part I of the introduction, Ryan provides a short biography of Collins's life from his birth to June 1922. In Part II, she covers the last two months of Collins's life and the marrow of the book begins. Ryan supplies several great pictures and several maps of Béal na mBláth. Her evidence consists of eye-witness accounts, letters, telephone conversations and newspaper clippings.

Ryan takes us on a rollercoaster of facts and emotions as the story progresses. The basic theories she tackles are: Collins was hit from behind by IRA members headed to Kerry, Collins was hit by a member of his own party by a close range bullet from the armoured car, Collins was hit by a ricocheted bullet, and Collins was hit by a bullet fired by an IRA member. After dissecting the response of the medical examiners, the embalmer, the men who supposedly buried the cap Collins was wearing on the day he was killed, and the testimony of Emmet Dalton, Collins's friend and comrade who was with him that day, Ryan does give a firm conclusion as to who the shooter was. She dispels the theories that Collins was shot by a bullet from a Mauser pistol and that Collins was killed by a ricocheted bullet. So who shot Michael Collins according to Ryan's studies? Read this engrossing book to find out!