William Martin Murphy ( 1845-1919) has long been viewed as something of an ogre, as the man who starved the workers of Dublin into submission in 1913 and called for the execution of James Connolly in 1916. This book re-examines Murphy's remarkable career.

As well as being a good employer, Murphy was an international financier, and a contractor of railways/tramways in three continents as well as in Britain and Ireland. He revolutionised the Irish newspaper industry, was a patriot who opposed key concessions in the Home Rule Bill, supported Sinn Féin, and vigorously opposed conscription and partition. A biography of Murphy is long overdue.