Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera: A Joint Biography of Irish politicians Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera

This is a deeply researched, well written and very detailed history of the Irish struggle for independence from 1916 to 1923 through close examination of the two main actors of the rebellion, war for independence and the Irish civil war. One of its strengths is Dwyer's mastery of the sources--if it there he has read it. One of the weaknesses (the only major problem) is the wealth of detail that Dwyer reveals. For example, one could get bogged down in the memo by memo, letter by letter minutia of the negotiations among various Irish factions for the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921. While intriguing in themselves and an important part of Irish Republican history, their presentation obscures Dwyer's real point, that De Valera maneuvered Collins into negotiating the treaty knowing that any bargain struck with David Lloyd George wouldn't be acceptable to the Republican majority. Collins was aware of the consequences of getting the best deal he could from the British, saying, "Think, what have I got for Ireland? Something she has wanted these past 700 years. Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this, I have signed my death warrant."When Collins returned from London with the peace treaty, de Valera attacked it as pro-British and a betrayal of Ireland. Collins was assassinated by the IRA in 1922. Eamon de Valera was prime minister or president of Ireland for most of five decades. Dwyer sees the split between them as personal as well as political. Both men were ambitious and often unscrupulous in getting what they wanted. De Valera, elected president of Ireland, feared Collins’s popularity and control of the army; Collins considered de Valera an untrustworthy demagogue. Both were right."Big Fellow, Long Fellow" is highly recommended for those who already have some knowledge of the history of Ireland from the Easter Rising (1916) to the assassination of Collins (1922). It seems to be a compromise between popular history and academic history and is missing the scholarly apparatus of citation from the sources although Dwyer's bibliography seems exhaustive.

A really fascinating biography of Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera. It thoroughly examines the personality differences that fueled the Irish Civil War as much as the differing politics.

So far, I'm very satisfied with the joint biography of Collins and DeValera. Fair-minded presentation of their differing childhood experiences. Strange that one with happier childhood becomes more violent than the one with neglected and almost rejected childhood. Can't wait to finish it.

Powerful and thorough work done by the author. I thought I knew quite a bit about the two major characters at hand. Well, now I know a whole lot more. Very nice read.

Good overview of both the two giants of Irish history and their actions during the struggle for independence. A good read.

This was an excellent and well researched book. The author gave an excellent accounting of the years from 1916-1923 and treated very objectively the complex and difficult relationship between Michael Collins and Eamonn de Valera.

After visiting Ireland and being of Irish decent I wanted to learn more about its History and heroes. This book was very detailed and informative about the Life of Collins. I recommend it to history buffs

The only book that compares both men in the same text.

Lots of knowledge, but i find this book very biased reflecting a very old fashioned stance on Irish history. My small learning is trivial in comparison to the authors, but i find him very out of sync with how these events are viewed now. Maybe because he seems to for some reason idolise De Valera his very unkind and mostly I think very partisan writing on Michael Collins seems tinged with a very yellow colour of misinterpretation and envy. Modern thinking and research sees the two men in a very different way from Mr Dwyer. Lots of facts and a reasonable narrative, but very dismissive of the architect and embodiment of Irish Nationalism. On a recent visit to the Irish Military Cemetery in Dublin it was Collins grave which was strewn with countless flowers, notes and with an aura of sadness. De Valera's was bare. A man bent on leading and manipulating for his own gain,he has a lot of blood on his hands. Collins repute only grows with time. Not a true reflection of men, and biased by Dwyer's own very unfair opinions. I can only imagine how fawning his De Valera biographies are. An interesting reflection on tomes and events but there are better writers on the period, and better books

It’s important to realise that the De Valera /Collins story is still to this day a sensitive issue. Todays Irish historians are largely biased in some shape or form. There is also a culture of celebrity historians in Ireland dictating the narrative. Why I admire, trust and enjoy T Ryle Dwyer books is that he details all facts and detail and sticks to the facts. I say this as an interested reader, no affiliations and I don’t know or have ever met the author.

This book mainly deals with the period from 1916 to 1922, which was an incredible time in Irish history and should make all English people feel guilty for the way our government behaved. I found it very informative and well researched, although I felt that it got a bit bogged down over the treaty negotiations.

As a young boy I was brought up in the Republic of Ireland. I left at the age of fifteen with only a glimmer of how my country came to be a Republic. This book has filled in all of the blank spaces and I am very grateful to the writer for providing me with so much information about a country I still love after fifty years away.

This book gives a balanced and detailed account of the machinations of the political intrigue that saw the birth of the Irish Free state. I would recommend it to any one interested in this most difficult period of Irelands history.