Mick: The Real Michael Collins

Few leaders in history have been as mythologized as Michael Collins. Before his death at 31, he had fought in the Easter Rising, organized the IRA and out-spied British intelligence, negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and run the first independent government in Ireland. Peter Hart’s groundbreaking biography restores humanity to this mythical figure. Drawing on previously unknown sources, delving into Collins’s pre-revolutionary past, and assessing the methods—and the costs—of his rise to power, Mick reveals a man of often ruthless ambition, more politician than soldier, whose friendships went no farther than his interests. A work as thrilling as it is authoritative.

Few leaders in history have been as mythologized as Michael Collins. Before his death at 31, he had fought in the Easter Rising, organized the IRA and out-spied British intelligence, negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and run the first independent government in Ireland. Peter Hart's groundbreaking biography restores humanity to this mythical figure. Drawing on previously unknown sources, delving into Collins's pre-revolutionary past, and assessing the methods—and the costs—of his rise to power, Mick reveals a man of often ruthless ambition, more politician than soldier, whose friendships went no farther than his interests. A work as thrilling as it is authoritative.

The New York Times - Denis Donoghue

Peter Hart's "Mick," a fine biography, concentrates on Collins's work, the tasks he took on for the associations he joined and ultimately for the provisional government: minister of finance, a job he carried out brilliantly; director of intelligence, the main source of his reputation as a hero, daring beyond description; and commander in chief of the army, in which he acted as if he had indeed an army to inspect in full order and battle dress.

Peter Hart is Canada Research Chair in Irish Studies at the University of Newfoundland. His first book, The IRA and Its Enemies, won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.