This pioneering study, first published in 1995, retains its rank as one
of the most powerful histories ever written about Irish involvement in
World War I. This new revised edition is timely due to the centenary of
the war, and the Irishmen who fought in that war may now re-enter the
national memory of Ireland after decades of indifference and hostility.
The gradual softening of attitudes over the last 20 years, amid great
historic change in the country, is due in no small part to the efforts
of historians to tell thousands of forgotten stories. Drawing on the
diaries, letters, literary works, and oral accounts of soldiers, author
Myles Dungan shares some of the personal stories of what Irishmen,
unionist and nationalist, went through during the Great War and how many
of them drew closer together during that horror than at any time since.
The book offers a selection of the most important battles and campaigns
in which the three Irish Divisions participated.