Publisher's Synopsis
A close confidante of Michael Collins, Batt O'Connor set down in 1929 this account of his own development and his work with Michael Collins in the Irish was of Independence. Introduction Brendan Clifford Batt O'Connor of Brosna, Co. Kerry was one of Michael Collins' inner circle in the War of Independence. His recollections of that War read more like an adventure story than history. All the more surprising, therefore, that his memoir has been out of print since 1929. Following lively public interest in Sean Moylan's Memoirs, launched by Eamon O Cuiv, the Aubane Historical Society is making a further account of the War of Independence available - this time from a participant who felt pressed to take the pro-Treaty side in 1922.;However, while Moylan's story is firmly centred in North Cork, Batt's features Dublin. Mrs O'Connor's recollections, which she lodged in the Bureau of Military History archive, appear here for the first time. An introduction by Brendan Clifford takes issue with the view that the divisions among the Volunteers over whether to accept Lloyd George's Treaty ultimatum really constituted a 'civil war' in the true sense of the word. Both sides were pledged to the Republic - the division was merely over whether to make a partial submission to the Crown under the British Prime Minister's threat of 'terrible and immediate war', as it was put by Kevin O'Higgins.
