Frank Ryan

From the War of Independence to an advisory post in Nazi Germany, Frank Ryan's life followed one of the strangest arcs in modern Irish history. He fought in the Civil War, rose to lead the inter-war IRA, turned to socialist republicanism in the 1930s as a founder of the Republican Congress, and commanded the Irish volunteers of the International Brigades in Spain. Captured by Franco's forces, he was freed through the efforts of German military intelligence, which hoped to use him in its wartime dealings with the IRA.

Fearghal McGarry offers a concise reinterpretation of that contested life, built on primary sources and much previously unpublished material. It suits anyone interested in Irish republicanism, the Spanish Civil War, or how a revolutionary's convictions can lead him somewhere he never expected.