In June 1922, just seven months after Sinn Féin negotiators signed a compromise treaty with representatives of the British government to create the Irish Free State, Ireland collapsed into civil war. While the body count suggests it was far less devastating than other European civil wars, it had a harrowing impact on the country and cast a long shadow, socially, economically and politically, which included both public rows and recriminations and deep, often private traumas.

'Ferriter has richly earned his reputation as one of Ireland's leading historians' Irish Independent

'Absorbing ... A fascinating exploration of the Civil War and its impact on Ireland and Irish politics' Irish Times