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Original Title:	Michael Collins: A Biography
ISBN:	1570980756 (ISBN13: 9781570980756)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Michael Collins

Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland

Tim Pat Coogan

Paperback | Pages: 480 pages

Rating: 4.07 | 1645 Users | 61 Reviews

Rendition During Books Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland

This was a difficult book to get through for a couple of reasons. First, the writing and then second, the history itself. The writing. I read a book by this author last year concerning the Irish Starvation of the mid 19th century and found that book quite compelling. That book tells me that this author does know how to write so I am puzzled by what I encountered in this book. There were numerous lengthy sentences liberally sprinkled with commas that made it difficult to understand who was talking or what was being described. I had to read these sentences several times to make sense of them and then wondered if it was worth the trouble since many of the discussions and events seemed rather trivial. I am guessing that the author's problem was the material he had to work with and the type of events depicted in this history. Initially it should be pointed out that it appears the author is the son of a veteran of this turbulent time so his objectivity may be open to question. The author refers repeatedly to this time as a "war" and specifically as the "Anglo-Irish War". After reading this book this was no war as I understand the use of that term in history. This was a campaign of terrorism and counter-terrorism. Much of what the author describes was, to me, like reading of the activities of contemporary street gang running up and down alleys at night approaching unsuspecting targets and shooting them in the head. Such acts would then be responded to by government officers storming into the homes of yet more unsuspecting innocent parties and shooting them in their beds. There were no heroes in this conflict on either side and this was another part of my difficulty. Nevertheless, the author needed to convey to the reader what exactly happened and he tried to do this. I suspect he had an abundance of source material and struggled to ensure the activities of what he might have considered to be patriotic acts were properly preserved and noted of record in his book. Sadly, there were a great many of these acts committed by people who were mentioned briefly and then had it noted that they were subsequently arrested or killed, or executed and were never mentioned again. This problem then occurred again when the author recounts the negotiations between the Irish and the English government. It seems like we are subjected to reading every note, diary, memorandum, telegram etc. that passed between the various parties throughout this process. It would have been far more advantageous to the reader had the author synthesized this material and then described the significance and critical stages of the process leading to its conclusion. Again, the reader is subjected to numerous run-on sentences littered with commas. It was, at times, quite maddening. But all was not lost. In the second half of the book, after the conclusion of the negotiations, the writing improves and the author's ability is demonstrated. This is the period during the early stages of the Irish Free State and the civil war that ultimately claims Collins' life.

The second difficulty I had, as I mentioned, is with the history itself. Thanks to my grandparents I have dual citizenship with Ireland and I am proud of that. It is this heritage that has induced me to learn more about the country of my grandparents. While this book is supposed to be a biography of Michael Collins and it is, it is also a fairly detailed history of the formation of the independence of Ireland in the early 20th century. There is a quote in the book attributed to Eamon de Valera as he comments on the death of an adversary "I do not approve but I must not pretend I do not understand". This history is brutal, barbaric, and completely outside the realm of accepted military behavior in or out of a war time environment. However, I enjoy reading British history and more than slightly familiar with their colonial activities. The English colonial history is a monument to ineptitude, arrogance, racism, exploitation, and brutality. It reads as though any life that wasn't English and, better yet, English nobility was something less than significant or worthy. The English conduct during the Irish Starvation of the 1840's was about as close to a government sanctioned genocide as it could get. To win their independence from the English yoke the Irish were never going to be able to create and field a conventional army and conduct a conventional war. Terrorism was their only alternative and the English certainly made that option very easy for them to take. The things that were done lead to retaliation and escalating acts of brutality and revenge. I can understand how this author can desire to paint these men and women as patriots and thus give his national history a nobility it should have but the acts are what they are and they are hard to accept and to read. This is a sad history and in de Valera's word I can't approve but I do understand.

Point Regarding Books Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland

Title	:	Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland
Author	:	Tim Pat Coogan
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 480 pages
Published	:	July 1st 1996 by Roberts Rinehart Publishers (first published October 4th 1990)
Categories	:	History. Biography. Cultural. Ireland. Nonfiction. European Literature. Irish Literature

Rating Regarding Books Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland

Ratings: 4.07 From 1645 Users | 61 Reviews

Write Up Regarding Books Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland

A long, arduous slog full of so much detail that it's hard not to get lost at times.The authors writing style is very stuffy and awkward at times.An editor could and should have had a field day with this.Saying that, the chapter on Collins setting up and running his Intelligence Unit during the War of Independence was riveting stuff.Really interesting material. But just boring for long stretches. A mixed bag.

A readable, well-researched biography that suffers from a little too much passion from the biographer. For sure, there are huge tracts of first-hand accounts and fascinating details from the lives of Collins and his contemporaries, and the whole thing is presented in a lively, thrilling fashion. As a blow by blow account of the Irish War of Independence, this is a fascinating document.But the author admires Collins to the point that it becomes hard to know what's true or false about his life.

Very intriguing and detailed biography. Deals quite a bit in the Irish history and politics surrounding Collins and while I understand the relevance of this there are other books that detail the Irish history of the period in a more compelling manner than this book does. Overall still a good read.



What a slog! Densely packed information and details make it a great reference and highly informative, but tough read. There are also many people and events raised as ancillary information that the author must assume the reader knows about.

MY FAVORITE IRISH HISTORY AUTHOR! Wonderful story of Michael Collins rise to power . . . incredible detail that other biographers cannot include!

A relatively good book, but with some interesting problems. The fact of the matter is that while reading about the IRA and the British occupation force, one is left with a striking realization- Michael Collins is a terrorist. Now, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, but reading the cavalcade of acts Collins committed in the name opf a free Ireland is really stark. And moreover, it becomes distracting listening to the apologist tone of the author- who inexplicably mixes Collins