This is the third book written by Cathal Liam (a Cincinnati resident!)about the history of the Irish revolution, 1916 through the early 1920s in Dublin and throughout Ireland.
This book covers Tom Cullen, an Irish revolutionary, close friend of Michael Collins, spy for the IRA in London and in Ireland, an organizer and quartermaster of the fight for freedom. Lightly fictionalized – filling in the blanks where research could not turn up information – this book covers the less glamourous days of the slogging fight after the 1916 Easter Uprising, to persuade the English to finally let go. The book is focused mainly on Ireland’s War for Independence, 1919 – 1921.
Tom Cullen was a hero on many fronts, not least staying close to Michael Collins, a man whose physical violence, temper and abusive sense of humor, challenged his friends more than any others. Tom ‘matched wits with some of Britain’s most dangerous spies and ruthless assassins’, managed to keep the IRA fed and housed, and did what needed to be done.
Like all of Liam’s books, the detail takes you right into Dublin’s lanes, the winding paths in the countryside, the pubs and hidden places which supported the warriors and the war. If you want to know what it really feels like to be in a guerrilla war – this is the book to read.