Big Fellow, Long Fellow: A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera

by T. Ryle Dwyer

Overview

This is the only comparative biography of Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins, and as such has established itself as a standard work. It is now re-issued in pocket paperback format for the first time. As fairly and as dispassionately as possible, Dwyer explores the stark differences in the background and personalities of his two subjects; the abandoned, probably illegitimate and essentially loveless childhood of de Valera sharply counterpoints the warm close environment into which Collins was born...Dwyer's assessment of the two characters is fair.—Diarmaid Ferriter, Evening Herald. "This is an excellent book and goes far to giving a rounder picture of the relationship between the two men than some earlier works. In particular, Collins emerges as a pretty good schemer himself, being a brilliant networker through his control of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, his contacts in the police and civil bureaucracies in both Britain and Ireland and through his connections in the world of shipping and communications...one thing that comes out of Dwyer's analysis very starkly is de Valera's fantastic self-confidence or self-righteousness, depending on one's point of view...a well-written, competent and fair-minded book."—Tom Garvin, Irish University Review.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780717140848
Publisher:	Gill & MacMillan, Limited
Publication date:	09/12/2006
Pages:	378
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.90(d)

Editorial Reviews

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.--Robert C. Moore, Raytheon, Sudbury, MA

Library Journal

Focusing on the years 1917-1922, the author compares the similarities and differences in the political views and careers of Irish Republicans Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera. The paths that led them to split are analyzed and related to the causes of the Irish Civil War. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

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 Collins-de 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 debateover 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 Collins-de Valera rift. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) .

Kirkus Reviews