Rating: 
Summary: The Big Fellow,indeed!
Review: One cannot understand modern Ireland with no knowledge of Michael Collins. Known as the "Big Fellow" Collins was the brains and driving force behind Ireland's triumphal revolution of 1916-1921. That struggle led directly to the formation of the Irish Free State and eventually the Irish Republic of today. One has to be careful how he phrases that statement, for Ireland has a long list of her heroes and martyrs. Collins is but one of them but Collins was different! So many others died in vain and became legends in song and story. The Big Fellow was icily prevailing. There are 4 main elements to MC: The first was Collins stunning use of intelligence to thwart the British at their own game. He was always a step ahead of the Brits. He was the most wanted man in Ireland but continually slipped through the hands of his foe. He literally hid in plain sight. The British had no picture of him and didn't know what he looked like! The second was his fearless use of selected assassination. In one night in 1920, his men (the aptly named 12 Apostles) took out 19 British agents! The demised were known as "the Cairo Gang'. The third is his uncomfortable role in the thorny peace negotiations with Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. The fourth is the most tragic: The Big Fellow, a "Free Stater", wanted to accept England's peace offer of a partitioned Ireland as a stepping stone to full independence. The so- called "Republicans"; led by the devious Eamon de Valera wanted immediate full independence. A Civil War ensued and the Big Fellow was assassinated. One could argue that author Coogan has a pro-Collins bias. Has Ireland been the same since? MC is a long story, rich in detail. This review has NOT done it justice. This is only a thumbnail's sketch! MC must be patiently read to be fully appreciated. The discipline the reader invests will be rewarded at the conclusion. Most Irish Americans, it is safe to write, have little or no knowledge of their country. If the curious learn of nothing else, they should learn of the one man who made their homeland independent. There have been so many well- intentioned statesmen, poets and martyrs who fell victim to England's treachery and gallows. The curious should read about the one man who really did get the "Brits Out" of 26/32 of that troubled island.
Rating: 
Summary: A difficult but engrossing history
Review: The book is difficult but not tedious. It's a pity that Tim Coogan didn't supply a little background on Irish History, just to put the events he describes in context. Without that, it becomes a little difficult if you have no idea who or what he is referring to. When he gets into the main subject of this history, one tends to get lost in a maze of characters, and their various alliegences. Nevertheless it offers a very complete treatment of the Anglo-Irish War, the negotiation of the Treaty, and the subsequent Irish Civil War. The ugliness and brutality of the war with the British is upsetting, and may well leave you feeling very angry. Finally let me say that Michael Collins emerges from this story as an extrordinary young man of enormous ability in so many ways, who with a little help from his friends did manage to get the British out of Ireland, or at least out of the twenty-six counties. The absurdity of it all, is that he was killed by his own people when he was little more than thirty years old.
Rating:
Summary: A good character portrait
Review: The movie never made it to theaters in my small northern Wisconsin city. But, thankfully, the book - and one copy of the video - finally made its way up here. I read the book, I rented the video and I began to understand Michael Collins. Thank you, Tim Pat Coogan. Thank you, Neil Jordan and Liam Neeson (no one else could have done it so well). I now understand the fight for Ireland so much better . . .
Rating:
Summary: Now You Can Meet the Real Michael Collins!
Review: This book has almost got it all. My first edition has a stunning brown and white photo on the cover showing Collins in his Free State uniform, and even the unusual weight and dimensions of the book suggests the emotionally moving experience within. This is a complete biography which begins with Collins' childhood, and it follows him all the way to where he is ruthlessly assassinated in Cork by political opponents. They were mostly liberals and communists who were not supported by the people when they advocated another more radical revolution. There's an especially generous collection of photographs to enhance the text here as well. Until this book was published, there just wasn't a complete or accurate biography on Collins available anywhere, though he is certainly one of the most interesting people in Irish history. This injustice was eventually corrected when the Irish book industry revitalized after many years of repression from Irish politicians such as Eamon de Valera. Such opponents knew their own deeds were shallow in comparison to those of Collins and his supporters. They preferred the public not to read the inside story of how they abandoned Collins when he negotiated the treaty with the British government that formed today's Irish Republic, and they are widely suspected of contributing to his assassination in Cork (de Valera was in the immediate area). Then came this landmark book in 1992 by Coogan, followed by the 1996 film by Neil Jordan, and Irish-Americans suddenly realized what they had been cheated of. In one of the supreme ironies of history, however, Collins is occasionally hijacked by the Marxists of Sinn Fein when they shake down the Irish in America. They claim that they have the moral authority to finish what Collins could not. Unfortunately, from so far away, some Irish Americans have difficulty discerning the difference between Collins' ideas about uniting the Irish - by developing trust between the Irish Nationalist community and the Irish of British descent community - and his opponents ideas which advocate class warfare and fuel sectarian tensions. There's an unrelated television commercial in the US which could provide a good one liner to fit this unlikely situation perfectly: "How is that possible?" Yes, it can be verified that the Collins people greatly appreciated the contribution that James Connolly made to military tactics, but they are also on record as being Ireland's most popular opposition to the Marxism that Connolly and others advocated. Collins and those close to him believed firmly in a free enterprise system shaped by a more traditional and gentle Irish socialism. In Ireland the average political enthusiast knows who's who. This is the reason there is no mention of Gerry Adams when Coogan finishes with his chapter "Honoring the Dead?" During the Irish Civil War Collins' people risked their lives to stop left wing subversion. In today's Irish Republic the party which Collins' supporters formed after his death lives on; that's Fine Gael, and its opposition to Marxism is still very much alive. For anyone who is still confused or doubtful, one of the following books can fill you in on the aggressively anti-Communist nature of the Collins camp: First there's The Blueshirts and Irish Politics by Michael Cronin, printed in Dublin, Ireland by Four Courts Press 1997; then there's an older but better book, The Blueshirts by Maurice Manning which was printed in Dublin, Ireland by Gill and Macmillan in 1970; and even Yeats, Ireland and Fascism by Elizabeth Cullingford which was published in New York, New York by N.Y. University Press in1981
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but a very large meal
Review: This is a long, detailed book, printed in what I find to be a particularly unattractive typeface. It's absolutely worth reading, but unless you're already fascinated by Collins you may find it pretty offputting. A better starting place may be Ulick O'Connor's "Michael Collins and the Troubles: The Struggle for Irish Freedom 1912-1922," which is far shorter and breezier. Despite its title, it's not so much a bio of Collins as a survey of Irish politics and political personalities before and during his era. Be warned, though, that only the last half of so of the book discusses Collins himself.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but a very large meal
Review: This is a long, detailed book, printed in what I find to be a particularly unattractive typeface. It's absolutely worth reading, but unless you're already fascinated by Collins you may find it pretty offputting. A better starting place may be Ulick O'Connor's "Michael Collins and the Troubles: The Struggle for Irish Freedom 1912-1922," which is far shorter and breezier. Despite its title, it's not so much a bio of Collins as a survey of Irish politics and political personalities before and during his era. Be warned, though, that only the last half of so of the book discusses Collins himself.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely good book on Michael Collins and Irish history
Review: This is an excellent book on Michael Collins, the Irish freedom struggle, and what Michael Collins did for Ireland. If you are interested in Irish history this is a book I would highly recommend. It gives great details on the extraordinary life of Michael Collins and the times he lived in. There is no other book on Michael Collins that is comparable to this book.
Rating:
Summary: thoroughly researched!
Review: this is not for the casual reader. coogan's scholarly work goes far beyond biography in this brilliantly detailed book to explain not only collins' accomplishments & failures in his 31 years but to unravel the twisted relationships between himself and devalera, lloyd-george, churchill and other historic figures of the era. playing a prominent role in every key event in irish history from 1916 rebellion to black n tan war to truce to treaty to partition to civil war. the absolute difinitive book on collins & the era 1916 - 1923 in ireland.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed and thorough history of a fascinating life
Review: Tim Pat Coogan brings Michael Collins alive in this thoroughly researched and thoroughly enjoyable biography. Coogan details the life of Collins with painstaking research and plenty of first-hand accounts of those who knew him. In a new, and controversial, addition to previous Collins biographies, Coogan details the evidence as to Collins's assasination and names the likely culprit in the Irish leader's murder. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed and thorough history of a fascinating life
Review: Tim Pat Coogan brings Michael Collins alive in this thoroughly researched and thoroughly enjoyable biography. Coogan details the life of Collins with painstaking research and plenty of first-hand accounts of those who knew him. In a new, and controversial, addition to previous Collins biographies, Coogan details the evidence as to Collins's assasination and names the likely culprit in the Irish leader's murder. A must read.
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