Between Two Hells: The Irish Civil War

Review Between Two Hells is a fascinating exploration of the Civil War and its impact on Ireland and Irish politics in the following half-century, rich in insights into how women and men experienced and responded to the calamity of the split and the tawdry violence that followed. This absorbing study begs the question of why Irish politics did not develop along left/right, urban/rural lines, akin to those seen in other newly independent states ― Irish TimesSimply outstanding ... Between Two Hells takes us closer to the messy truth behind independent Ireland's birth pangs than ever before. ... Ferriter has richly earned his reputation as one of Ireland's leading historians -- Andrew Lynch ― Irish IndependentOriginal and arresting -- Henry Patterson ― Sunday Times IrelandMeticulously researched, judiciously balanced and unflinching ... breaks new ground -- Dermot Bolger ― Sunday Business PostExcellent ... Diarmaid Ferriter, Ireland's best-known and most prolific historian ... enriches lucid and judicious accounts of events and personalities with fresh archival evidence -- Cormac Ó Gráda ― BBC History MagazineFascinating ... absorbing -- Eunan O'Halpin ― Irish TimesPraise for A Nation and Not a Rabble: 'Very illuminating detail...simply setting violent events in context is a step forward. Thoughtful, balanced, even handed ― Irish TimesFerriter's book is of such comprehensive and original scope...immensely readable and impressive ― Sunday Business Post...The mighty mind this book comes from... rightly renowned for his voracious learning ― Sunday TimesTugs at the tapestry of myths surrounding the independence struggle and the civil war that followed...A tremendous feat of documentation ― The Independent Product Description In December 1921, five months after a truce between the IRA and British Crown Forces, Sinn Féin negotiators signed a compromise treaty with representatives of the British government. It created the Irish Free State, a self-governing dominion within the British empire, for the twenty-six counties of southern Ireland. Its terms generated turmoil within the republican movement and the country and in June 1922 Ireland collapsed into a cruel civil war, ripping Sinn Féin, the IRA and its female wing Cumann na mBan, local communities and families asunder. While the body count suggests it was far less devastating than some other European civil wars, it had a harrowing impact on the small island and cast a long shadow, socially, economically and politically, which included both public rows and recriminations and deep, often private traumas.Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the two parties that grew out of the rival factions, have dominated Irish governance since the civil war era but it was only in 2020 - almost a century after the conflict - that the two could see their way to officially sharing power. Drawing on many previously unpublished sources and newly released archival material, one of Ireland's most renowned historians lays bare the course and impact of the war, the lives it cost, the reputations it forged, the fate of its survivors and how this tragedy shaped modern Ireland. Book Description The history of the war that shaped the Irish political landscape across the twentieth century and up to the present day, by Ireland's most prominent academic and broadcast historian About the Author Diarmaid Ferriter is one of Ireland's best-known historians and is Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD. His books include The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (2004), Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the life and legacy of Eamon de Valera (2007), Occasions of Sin: Sex and Society in Modern Ireland (2009) and Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s (2012). His most recent book is A Nation and not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913-23 (2015) He is a regular broadcaster on television and radio and a weekly columnist with the Irish Times. In 2010 he presented a three-part history of twentieth centu