Michael Collins: The Secret File

by A.T.Q. Stewart (Editor)

Recently released papers from the Public Record Office in London show the Dublin police anxiously trying to compile a reliable dossier on the shadowy figure of Michael Collins, soon to become one of the most revered - and feared - men in Irish history. This important new book presents facsimiles of all the significant documents in the Royal Irish Constabulary's secret file on Collins from December 1916 to April 1920. The handwritten reports of undercover constables and the comments and instructions of their officers convey a powerful immediacy, bringing the reader eerily close to the urgency and excitement of those crucial years when Collins was recruiting, training and inspiring his flying columns for the imminent War of Independence.

Genres: Ireland

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Anthony Terence Quincey Stewart, known professionally as A.T.Q. Stewart or Tony Stewart, was a Northern Irish historian, teacher and academic, and a best-selling author on the subject of the politics of Ulster and Northern Ireland.

Reviews

[Mary Fagan]

This book with an informative introduction contains a selection of facsimile documents from the RIC’s secret file on Collins for the period December 1916 to April 1920.The bulk of the documents are handwritten notes in a variety of hands many of which are difficult to read.The book would benefit from the inclusion of typescripts of the facsimiles.