From the daring pirate-queen Grace O'Malley, to the fiery Protestant lawyer Theobald Wolfe Tone, and the courageous priest-patriot Fr John Murphy, Ireland's rebels have come from diverse backgrounds. But they all had one thing in common: they weren't afraid to take on a powerful Establishment and claim their right to self-determination.

The first half of this lively history shows us the links between the earliest rebellions orchestrated by Celtic nobles such as Donal O'Sullivan Beare, and the more political attempts at emancipation o f the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, dominated by the Liberator himself, Daniel O'Connell. The second half includes the seminal period of the Easter Rising and the Civil War, the fight for workers' right led by James Larkin, and the war in Northern Ireland.

The personalities featured are: Donal O'Sullivan Beare, Grace O'Malley, Eoin Roe O'Neill, Silken Thomas, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Fr John Murphy, Daniel O'Connell, John Mitchell, William Smith O'Brien, Robert Emmet, Terence MacSwiney, James Larkin, Countess Markievicz, James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Michael Collins, Gerry Adams, Boby Sands.