This new edition is introduced by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. Mellows was one of the most radical and intellectually questioning of the 1916-1922 political leaders. No other man so perfectly combines the realism and romance of the Irish struggle. This volume is considered by many to be the definitive biography of Mellows. It is a standard source for the period of Modern Irish History it covers - 1916-1922, when Ireland was partitioned. For Adams, and many others, it is particularly important because of the insight it provides into the social and class politics which underpinned the Republican split on the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. The book's concentration on the nationalist aspect of the Revolution makes this reissue particularly timely.