Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland [Paperback]

Tim Pat Coogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2002

When the Irish nationalist Michael Collins signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, he observed to Lord Birkenhead that he may have signed his own death warrant. In August 1922 that prophecy came true when Collins was ambushed, shot and killed by a compatriot, but his vision and legacy lived on. Tim Pat Coogan's biography presents the life of a man whose idealistic vigor and determination were matched by his political realism and organizational abilities. This is the classic biography of the man who created modern Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A timely and courageous book." -- John McGahern, Sunday Times

"There have been several other lives of Collins, but none has assembled such wealth of detail." -- Independent on Sunday

"The events described in this book can usefully be learned from by those who govern Ireland now." -- Financial Times

"A lively and colourful adventure story with a fascinating, yet recognisably human, hero." -- Dublin Sunday Press

About the Author

Tim Pat Coogan is one of the best known journalists and historians in Ireland. Former editor of the Irish Press, his books include The Troubles, The IRA, and Wherever Green is Worn.

Product Details

• Paperback: 524 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (May 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312295111
• ISBN-13: 978-0312295110
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Big Fellow,indeed!, April 7, 2004

By 

Mcgivern Owen L (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland (Paperback)

One cannot understand modern Ireland with no knowledge of Michael Collins. Known as the "Big Fellow" Collins was the brains and driving force behind Ireland's triumphal revolution of 1916-1921. That struggle led directly to the formation of the Irish Free State and eventually the Irish Republic of today. One has to be careful how he phrases that statement, for Ireland has a long list of her heroes and martyrs. Collins is but one of them but Collins was different! So many others died in vain and became legends in song and story. The Big Fellow was icily prevailing. There are 4 main elements to MC: The first was Collins stunning use of intelligence to thwart the British at their own game. He was always a step ahead of the Brits. He was the most wanted man in Ireland but continually slipped through the hands of his foe. He literally hid in plain sight. The British had no picture of him and didn't know what he looked like! The second was his fearless use of selected assassination. In one night in 1920, his men (the aptly named 12 Apostles) took out 19 British agents! The demised were known as "the Cairo Gang'. The third is his uncomfortable role in the thorny peace negotiations with Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. The fourth is the most tragic: The Big Fellow, a "Free Stater", wanted to accept England's peace offer of a partitioned Ireland as a stepping stone to full independence. The so- called "Republicans"; led by the devious Eamon de Valera wanted immediate full independence. A Civil War ensued and the Big Fellow was assassinated. One could argue that author Coogan has a pro-Collins bias. Has Ireland been the same since? MC is a long story, rich in detail. This review has NOT done it justice. This is only a thumbnail's sketch! MC must be patiently read to be fully appreciated. The discipline the reader invests will be rewarded at the conclusion. Most Irish Americans, it is safe to write, have little or no knowledge of their country. If the curious learn of nothing else, they should learn of the one man who made their homeland independent. There have been so many well- intentioned statesmen, poets and martyrs who fell victim to England's treachery and gallows. The curious should read about the one man who really did get the "Brits Out" of 26/32 of that troubled island.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Defender of a Culture, Under Occupation, September 28, 2004

By 

Donald B. Siano (Westfield, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Michael Collins: A Biography (Hardcover)

Michael Collins was an extraordinary man, the inventor, it is said, of modern urban guerilla warfare; the man who led the war to end 700 years of British occupation of Ireland. Here was a man that was not a cog in in some vast socio-economic machine, whose only desire is "to just get along." He was one of those who didn't experience the benefits of the coexistence of two cultures in one land, because one of them was politically and economically savaging the other.

He did not have as his primary goal in life to accumulate the accouterments of a materialistic civilization for himself, nor did he ever have a mortgage to pay. He never owned a car. He never formed a family. He never knew such idiots who populate the safety committees of the industrial organizations in our own time, nor the phonies who infest our academies, longing for tenure. He loved his culture, as it was, and resented outsiders who had only scorn for it.

He was a leader of men, a man of action, a stickler for detail, who always knew what he wanted to accomplish. His physical courage was unimaginable to most men, even to those of his own time and place. His outstanding political skills and ability to do what was required to achieve the achievable was unmatched by any of the politicos and hotheads who surrounded him.

His primary task in the rebellion was in counter-intelligence, which he came to see required the assassination of informants and torturers, detectives and G-men, and the higher-ups of the British intelligence services who directed it all and placed a price on his head. This culminated in a "Bloody Sunday" in which his men attacked the "Cairo Gang" in their lodgings, some still in their beds, killing 19 of them. The Brits retaliated with a massacre of unarmed spectators at a football match, but ultimately it resulted in the opening of negotiations. Incredibly, Collins was chosen to lead the negotiating team, and wound up across the table from Lloyd George, Austen Chamberlin, and Winston Churchill. He brought home an agreement for the Free State.

Coogan tells his tale very thoroughly, at length, and with a satisfying balance of an attention to fact, considered speculation, and telling anecdote. He is an accomplished historian who knows his subject intimately. The author has written on the order of a dozen books on the modern history of Ireland, and is widely recognized for his authority, but not necessarily for an "objectivity" that belies the need for drawing lessons that should be the goal of any historian.

The book is at times, perhaps, a little too detailed for the general reader, but it is something of a "definitive biography", so I can forgive him for this. It is over 500 pages long with a very good bibliography, footnotes, and a terrific index. The 17 pictures are glossy and clear and add a lot to the story.

One of the most rewarding of things about reading this book is that it led me, I think, to a greater understanding of the events in Iraq, also suffering under an occupation by a hostile power, being fought by patriots and coreligionists in an urban setting, whose enemies from another land and religion label them terrorists and murderers.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent History of an Elusive Man, June 27, 2002

By 

D. W. Casey (Sturbridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland (Paperback)

Tim Pat Coogan's Michael Collins is an excellent biography of the man who ran the day to day war for Irish independence. Collins orchestrated the "direct force" strategy against British rule, that, after several years of bloodshed, led to a settlement that rendered most of Ireland free. For his efforts in achieving more than any Irishman had achieved in 500 years, including legendary figures such as O'Connell and Parnell, Collins was assassinated by his allies, who felt that the peace treaty with Britain and freedom for the south were just not good enough.

Coogan does an excellent job detailing the man as well as his accomplishments; he has a host of anecdotes about Collins's youth and the years he lived under constant risk of death while carrying out the guerilla war. The book, despite its rather grim subject matter, is also not without its moments of humor -- the stories of many of Collins's narrow escapes from his British pursuers and his incredible luck also lighten the story.

Coogan does an excellent job outlining the divisions that formed within the IRA, the IRB, Sinn Fein, and the Catholic church throughout the struggle, and explains clearly the politics behind Collins's assassination. He makes clear what other historians with a lesser grasp of the subject only manage to make a muddle of.

Highly recommended.