Includes bibliographical references and index.

"... Eamon de Valera is the most single most consequential Irish figure of the twentieth century. He was a leader of the Easter Rising, the figurehead of the anti-treaty rebels during the dark days of the Civil War and later, as the founder of Fianna Fail and President of Ireland, the pivotal figure in the birth of the Republic. While de Valera the statesman, the rebel, the visionary, has passed over into a sort of myth, de Valera the man remains an elusive, almost opaque presence. Precious little is known of his background, his motivations - the roots, in short, of his ferocious devotion to a very particular brand of Irish nationalism. Here, in the first part of a major two-volume reassessment, historian and broadcaster David McCullagh considers the man behind the colossal achievements. McCullagh sketches a ground-breaking portrait of de Valera, his times and his complex, ever-shifting legacy."--Publisher's description for volume 1.

"In this, the concluding volume of David McCullagh's monumental new biography of the revolutionary and statesman, we join de Valera in 1932 as he takes the reins of power in the first Fianna Fáil government and follow him as he confronts one challenge after another - the Economic War, the drafting of Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Emergency, the North, the declaration of the Republic, economic stagnation in the 1950s - and sets about gradually remaking a sovereign Ireland in his own image. Beautifully written and deeply researched, McCullagh's De Valera is a provocative and nuanced portrait of Ireland's most enigmatic leader, as well as a balanced assessment of his role in shaping our national self-image."--Publisher's description for volume 2.