Author Description

This book tells the story of Harry Boland, a young man who devoted most of his life to working for the cause of Irish freedom. As a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) he took part in the 1916 Rising and after his release from prison was appointed secretary of Sinn Fein. He played a prominent role in demanding political status for Irish prisoners in Britain and with his friend Michael Collins helped to build up the IRB and the Volunteers, contributing to the daring escape of Eamon de Valera from Lincoln Prison. During the War of Independence (1919-21) de Valera sent Boland as a Special Envoy to the United States government, and while he was in America, Michael Collins's friendship with Kitty Kiernan, with whom Boland was also in love, blossomed into a love affair. Harry Boland gives a more comprehensive account of the six months prior to the Civil War (January-July 1922) than any previous publication. Boland was active and vocal in Dail meetings, on the Sinn Fein executive and at public meetings during that period. He voted against the Treaty but did all he could to prevent the Civil War, being the architect of the Collins-de Valera Pact. But when the Provisional Government attacked the Four Courts he joined the Republican forces. He was surrounded by a party of Free State soldiers in the Grand Hotel in Skerries, County Dublin, shot in the stomach and died two days later on 1 August 1922.