The legendary Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was known to be an avid reader during his brief career he set up a few underground newspapers. Collins also found time to write essays, which are collected in this work. In his essays, Collins distills his political thoughts and offers his unique insights into Ireland's troubled history.
Path to Freedom: Articles & Speeches by Michael Collins
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"This book shows us Michael Collins' ideas about the golden future he foresaw for Ireland." -- Irish American News "Irish American News"
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Michael Collins
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
A bit of an eye-opener for any of you who have bought into the legend of the freedom-fighter cruelly cut down by enemies who never really gave the treaty a fair chance. He reveals his true colours in several places, most notably in the parts where he says that socialism is not the Irish way or for the Irish people, a total betrayal of all that James Connolly and the gallant men of the Irish Citizen Army believed in and died for. Instead, his ideal New Ireland was one of a Gaelic-speaking peasant economy. And history speaks for itself; Collins and the rest of the Free- Staters couldn't don those second-hand British uniforms quick enough, could they?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars
10 reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Michael Collins the Thinker
29 Mar 2002
By Sara
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
It is difficult to top a book on Michael Collins composed primarily of his own words. After all, what better way to peek into his brilliant mind than by reading his words? This book was indeed published to coincide with the release of Neil Jordan's film in 1996, ostensibly to give curious moviegoers a way to better understand Collins before or after viewing the biopic. Tim Pat Coogan's foreword to the book is excellent and shows him in his usual top form. The book's chapters are "Advance and Use Our Liberties," "Alternative to the Treaty," "The Proof of Success," "Four Historic Years," "Collapse of the Terror," "Partition Act's Failure," "Why Britain Sought Irish Peace," "Distinctive Culture," "Building up Ireland," and "Freedom within Grasp." This book sheds light on how articulate, well read, historically aware and insightful Collins actually was. It is too often thought that Collins was a country bumpkin whose knowledge of anything beyond 'murder and mayhem' was quite limited. This simply isn't the case and it becomes apparent almost immediately into the book that Collins was a more than capable thinker. Collins discusses Ireland's tumultuous history, the accomplishments of the Easter Rising, the political events of 1914-1918, the many aspects of British rule, the potential resources of Ireland, and the work of Sinn Féin.
If you are looking for a traditional biography on Collins, this is probably not the right selection for you. _Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland_, the book Tim Pat Coogan excerpted his foreword from, would be a much better fit for that need. If you are already basically familiar with the life and times of Collins, this book will give you a much richer sense of how his mind worked.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Michael Collins In His Own Words
22 July 2000
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
These essays or articles are engrossing reading for the insight they provide into the mind of one of the most fascinating revolutionary leaders in modern history. Thought of by many during his time and even now as a 'terrorist' or gunman, these writings reveal Collins to be a thoughtful, intelligent leader with a far-ranging interest in all aspects of the present and future of his country. Had he lived it seems very clear that the quality of his mind and the compassionate concern he had for his people would have made him as formidible a leader in peacetime as he was in war. His death was Ireland's great loss but he left an impressive legacy.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A well-edited testament of wasted genius
18 Jan 1997
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
"Of all the words/ Of tongue or pen/ the saddest are these/
'It might have been'/". Such go the words of a poet that I cannot identify. But they adequately encapsulate
the emotions intended to be evoked
by this finely-edited collection of various writings by Michael Collins,
the Irish patriot, hero, and martyr (or traitor depending on one's perspective) who led his country's successful war of independence betwen 1919 and 1921.
Assassinated during the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923
because of his role in setting up an Irish government not sufficently
independent of Britain nor sufficiently encompassing the whole island to satisfy many of his former comrades
in the struggle, he never got to be tested as a peacetime leader. Path To Freedom allows
us to see the man through his own writings where he emerges as far more than a warrior.
Keenly interested in economics and culture, well-informed and articulate on
virtually every issue of state, foreign or domestic, Collins' legacy to the reader is to make him/her wonder what would the history of Ireland (North and South) be like -- even the history of Europe
itself in the time of a coming Depression and Age of Dictators -- had Collins survived. The renowned
modern Irish scholar-journalist Tim Pat Coogan provides a good introduction which
is mostly lifted verbatim from his earlier biography of Collins.
'It might have been'/". Such go the words of a poet that I cannot identify. But they adequately encapsulate
the emotions intended to be evoked
by this finely-edited collection of various writings by Michael Collins,
the Irish patriot, hero, and martyr (or traitor depending on one's perspective) who led his country's successful war of independence betwen 1919 and 1921.
Assassinated during the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923
because of his role in setting up an Irish government not sufficently
independent of Britain nor sufficiently encompassing the whole island to satisfy many of his former comrades
in the struggle, he never got to be tested as a peacetime leader. Path To Freedom allows
us to see the man through his own writings where he emerges as far more than a warrior.
Keenly interested in economics and culture, well-informed and articulate on
virtually every issue of state, foreign or domestic, Collins' legacy to the reader is to make him/her wonder what would the history of Ireland (North and South) be like -- even the history of Europe
itself in the time of a coming Depression and Age of Dictators -- had Collins survived. The renowned
modern Irish scholar-journalist Tim Pat Coogan provides a good introduction which
is mostly lifted verbatim from his earlier biography of Collins.
›
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4.9 out of 5 stars
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