The books held in this collection represent a cross-section of republican political thought, history, and commemoration as expressed through published volumes spanning several decades of the twentieth century. They range from biographical and historical works produced by mainstream and republican presses to internal publications and compilations of writings by figures central to the movement. As with all material in this archive, the books are presented as historical documents rather than endorsements of any position contained within them.
The collection includes several works in the commemorative tradition. The Last Post, published by the National Graves Association and represented here in three editions, is a record of republican dead whose successive editions reflect the expanding roll of commemoration across different periods. Patriot Graves similarly engages with the memory of republican figures, while Kevin Barry (1965) treats one of the most enduring martyrdom narratives in republican culture, the 1920 execution of the eighteen-year-old IRA volunteer whose death became a touchstone for subsequent generations.
A number of titles document the politics and personalities of the movement in the second half of the twentieth century. Freedom Struggle (1973) presented the Provisional IRA’s account of the origins and aims of the conflict in the North, while Seán Mac Stiofáin’s autobiography A Revolutionary in Ireland (1975) offers a first-hand account of the 1969 split and the early Provisional years. The Writings of Bobby Sands (1981), published in the year of the hunger strikes, and The Revolutionary Works of Seamus Costello, which documents the political thought of the IRSP’s founder, are significant primary sources for understanding the ideological currents of the period.
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s Díseacht (1997), a study of Tom Maguire — the last surviving member of the Second Dáil — and The IRA at War, which situates the organisation within the longer tradition of armed republicanism, round out a collection that reflects the breadth of republican historical and political writing across the twentieth century.
Misc Books
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© Irish Republican Digital Archive. Historical documents are presented for educational and research purposes only. We do not endorse or promote any views expressed in the material. Some content may be politically or historically sensitive. [Read full disclaimer]
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