Eoin O'Duffy by Fearghal Mcgarry
Eoin O'Duffy was one of the most controversial figures of modern Irish history. A guerrilla leader and protege of Michael Collins, he rose rapidly through the ranks of the republican movement. By 1922 he was chief of staff of the IRA, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood's Supreme Council, and a Sinn Fein deputy in Dail Eireann. As chief of police, O'Duffy was the strongest defender of the Irish Free State only to become, after his emergence as leader of the Blueshirt movement in 1933, the greatest threat to its survival. Increasingly drawn to international fascism, he founded Ireland's first fascist party, and led an Irish Brigade to fight under General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. He died in wartime Dublin, a Nazi collaborator, and a broken man. This study, the first ever biography of Eoin O'Duffy, draws on unpublished archival and personal papers to trace his journey from revolutionary republicanism to fascism. It examines the importance of cultural forces, including the legacy of the Irish-Ireland movement, Catholicism, anti-communism, and O'Duffy's ideas on sports, morality, and masculinity to explain his descent into extremism.McGarry peels away the public persona to reveal a complex picture of the motives which drove this extraordinary career. A crusading moralist and advocate of teetotalism, obsessed with the need to counter public immorality, who was at the same time a closet homosexual and alcoholic, O'Duffy's remarkable life was characterised by self-aggrandisement, fantasy, and contradiction. This fascinating biography explores themes as diverse as cultural nationalism, violence, sectarianism, militarism, and masculinity to shed new light on Irish republicanism and the politics of interwar European fascist movements. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of culture, politics, and society in interwar Ireland.
Fearghal McGarry has written an outstanding book which well demonstrates that in order to succeed a biographer does not need to admire his subject.. McGarry writes with great clarity and flair, combining analysis and narrative in the most assured of ways. Both the general and specialist reader will find this an immensely satifysing read. Michael Hopkinson, History Journal
Fearghal McGarry, Reader in Modern Irish History, Queen's University Belfast Fearghal McGarry is Senior Lecturer in History at Queen's University, Belfast. He is the author of a number of books on Irish history in the twentieth century, including Irish Politics and the Spanish Civil War (Cork University Press, 1999), Eoin O'Duffy: A Self-Made Hero (OUP, 2005), and The Abbey
Rebels of 1916: A Lost Revolution (Gill & Macmillan, 2015). H also edited Rebels (Penguin Ireland, 2011), a collection of first-hand testimony by revolutionary veterans.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780199226672 |
| ISBN 10 | 0199226679 |
| Title | Eoin O'Duffy |
| Author | Fearghal Mcgarry |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2007-11-08 |
| Number of pages | 448 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |