Age of De Valera

At various times in history, there are individuals whose impact, influence and personality place them on a par with those great impersonal forces and decisive events that shape a nation's destiny. In modern Ireland, such a man was Eamon de Valera. Sole surviving commandant of the 1916 Rising, President of the first Dail, founder ot the Fianna Fail party, Taoiseach for twenty years, President for fourteen years: the name de Valera evokes a powerful response right across the Irish political spectrum, ranging from loval devotion to the most bitter condemnation. In this book, two leading historians analyse de Valera's Ireland, his achievements and his failures, his vision and his legacy. They portray the great social and political issues that dominated his lifetime. Brilliantly illustrated from the copious picture research for RTE's centenary television series, here is a panorama of turbulent history, and a tough critical appraisal of the making of the modern Republic.