Eamon de Valera is the most controversial figure in modern Irish history and as this book argues, the most misunderstood. ‘Dev’ has been characterised as a stern, un-bending, devious and divisive politician, in scholarship and in popular culture.

Here, Diarmaid Ferriter investigates the far more complex personal and public identities of the revolutionary fighter, Fianna Fáil party founder, taoiseach (prime minister) and president who reimagined the state both literally, in its first constitution, and figuratively, offering a much mocked vision of Ireland as a pre-industrial, pastoral island. Ferriter presents an in-depth analysis of De Valera using previously unpublished letters, government documents and photographs to chronicle his long and remarkable career. One such letter contradicts the conventional wisdom that de Valera escaped execution in 1916 because of his American citizenship, offering the leader’s personal account of events.

Engagingly written and tactile to hold, Judging Dev won four prestigious Irish book awards and awakened a national conversation through a parallel RTÉ radio series and RIA exhibition. When an Irish taoiseach launched this book in 2007 it was fittingly said it would be ‘equally invaluable in classroom, in college and in the home’. In 2007 the Royal Irish Academy worked with RTÉ on a new RTÉ Radio 1 radio documentary series called Judging Dev. The series started on 28 October 2007 to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the birth of Eamon de Valera and the 70th anniversary of the Constitution. The aim of the series was to re-examine de Valera’s important and somewhat controversial legacy.

The series was presented by Diarmaid Ferriter and was devised to accompany the book. You can listen back to the podcasts at the links below (please note: the podcasts are in mp3 format; you will need a player to listen to them):