Eoin O’Duffy: A Self-Made Hero

Description

Eoin O’Duffy was one of the most controversial figures of modern Irish history. A guerrilla leader and protégé of Michael Collins, by 1922 he was chief of staff of the IRA, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s Supreme Council and a Sinn Féin deputy in Dáil Éireann. He founded Ireland’s first fascist party and led an Irish Brigade to fight under General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. This, the first ever biography of O’Duffy, traces his journey from revolutionary republicanism to fascism. McGarry peels away the public persona to reveal 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 biography explores themes of cultural nationalism, violence, sectarianism, militarism and masculinity. This is a first edition in excellent condition.