The Path to Freedom [Paperback]

Michael Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2000

The Path to Freedom contains the only published work of the Irish hero who was, for a time, the most wanted man in the British Empire. In 1921, the thirty-year-old Collins negotiated with the British and signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, eventually leading to the creation of the Republic of Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The legendary Irish revolutionary Michael Collins (the subject of the film starring Liam Neeson) was known to be an avid reader. And during his brief career he set up a few underground newspapers. Before his violent death at the age of 31, he also found time to write essays, which are collected here. There is a lively and informative introductory essay by Tim Pat Coogan, a prominent Irish journalist and author of the definitive biography on Collins, Michael Collins. In his essays, Collins distills his political thoughts and offers his unique insights into Ireland's troubled history. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Collins (1890-1922) is generally recognized as the architect of the Irish Republic. Between 1920 and 1922 he would wipe out the entire British Secret Service in Ireland (while having a #10,000 bounty on his head), finance the new Irish state, negotiate the treaty leading to the eventual establishment of the Republic, and finally be assassinated himself during the Irish Civil War. The inventor of modern guerrilla warfare, his methods have been studied by leaders such as Mao Tse-Tung and former Israeli prime minister Yitzakh Shamir. In this collection of notes Collins is straightforward in his assessments: he chides Eamon de Valera for abandoning the new Irish Free State and justifies his severe actions in putting down resistance at the Four Courts in the beginning of the Civil War. His terrorism notwithstanding, Collins comes across as a true democrat, a man who believes in law and the Celtic tradition. He states bluntly that he "did not sign the Treaty [with Britain] under duress" and in a spirited defense of the Treaty makes the point that the Irish Free State enjoyed the same dominion status as Canada, which was also an independent nation. His comments on North Ireland are blunt: "union is certain. The only question for North-East Ulster is-How soon?" There are also some interesting deflating comments about Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson. Coogan, Collins's biographer, has written a focused introduction.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Roberts Rinehart (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568332130
• ISBN-13: 978-1568332130
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,831,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Collins the Thinker, March 28, 2002

By 

Sara (OK, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Path to Freedom (Paperback)

It is difficult to top a book on Michael Collins composed primarily of his own words. After all, what better way to peek into his brilliant mind than by reading his words? This book was indeed published to coincide with the release of Neil Jordan's film in 1996, ostensibly to give curious moviegoers a way to better understand Collins before or after viewing the biopic. Tim Pat Coogan's foreword to the book is excellent and shows him in his usual top form. The book's chapters are "Advance and Use Our Liberties," "Alternative to the Treaty," "The Proof of Success," "Four Historic Years," "Collapse of the Terror," "Partition Act's Failure," "Why Britain Sought Irish Peace," "Distinctive Culture," "Building up Ireland," and "Freedom within Grasp." This book sheds light on how articulate, well read, historically aware and insightful Collins actually was. It is too often thought that Collins was a country bumpkin whose knowledge of anything beyond 'murder and mayhem' was quite limited. This simply isn't the case and it becomes apparent almost immediately into the book that Collins was a more than capable thinker. Collins discusses Ireland's tumultuous history, the accomplishments of the Easter Rising, the political events of 1914-1918, the many aspects of British rule, the potential resources of Ireland, and the work of Sinn Féin.

If you are looking for a traditional biography on Collins, this is probably not the right selection for you. _Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland_, the book Tim Pat Coogan excerpted his foreword from, would be a much better fit for that need. If you are already basically familiar with the life and times of Collins, this book will give you a much richer sense of how his mind worked.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Collins In His Own Words, July 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Path to Freedom (Paperback)

These essays or articles are engrossing reading for the insight they provide into the mind of one of the most fascinating revolutionary leaders in modern history. Thought of by many during his time and even now as a 'terrorist' or gunman, these writings reveal Collins to be a thoughtful, intelligent leader with a far-ranging interest in all aspects of the present and future of his country. Had he lived it seems very clear that the quality of his mind and the compassionate concern he had for his people would have made him as formidible a leader in peacetime as he was in war. His death was Ireland's great loss but he left an impressive legacy.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-edited testament of wasted genius, January 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Path to Freedom (Paperback)

"Of all the words/ Of tongue or pen/ the saddest are these/ 'It might have been'/". Such go the words of a poet that I cannot identify. But they adequately encapsulate the emotions intended to be evoked by this finely-edited collection of various writings by Michael Collins, the Irish patriot, hero, and martyr (or traitor depending on one's perspective) who led his country's successful war of independence betwen 1919 and 1921. Assassinated during the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923 because of his role in setting up an Irish government not sufficently independent of Britain nor sufficiently encompassing the whole island to satisfy many of his former comrades in the struggle, he never got to be tested as a peacetime leader. Path To Freedom allows us to see the man through his own writings where he emerges as far more than a warrior. Keenly interested in economics and culture, well-informed and articulate on virtually every issue of state, foreign or domestic, Collins' legacy to the reader is to make him/her wonder what would the history of Ireland (North and South) be like -- even the history of Europe itself in the time of a coming Depression and Age of Dictators -- had Collins survived. The renowned modern Irish scholar-journalist Tim Pat Coogan provides a good introduction which is mostly lifted verbatim from his earlier biography of Collins.