Donal Corcoran's book reviews the processes of state building and the policies adopted in all the major areas of government. He pays particular attention to law and order, the creation of the Irish public service, land policy, health, education and the Irish language, as well as other areas of public policy. It's easy to forget that the establishment of a stable, democratic state in the circumstances in which Ireland found itself in 1922 was an achievement unique in Europe.

All the other independent states that emerged from the rubble of World War I soon yielded to some form of authoritarian or fascist government. The achievement of the founding fathers of the Irish state, so ably chronicled in this book, should be a cause for celebration.