In this book Eda Sagarra presents a complete biography of the career of Professor Timothy Aloysius Smiddy. His career spanned six decades, including over twenty years as a public servant; despite this however, Smiddy has remained in the shadows of Irish historiography. Sagarra admits in the introduction that ‘Smiddy remains an elusive figure in Irish historiography, present more in footnotes than in text.’ There are possibly two reasons for Smiddy's obscurity. Firstly, he remained outside national politics in the first two decades of the twentieth century and therefore he has not captured the attention of Irish historians in the way that the politically active figures of Éamon de Valera, Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith have. Sagarra has identified a gap in Irish historiography in which, like Smiddy, the lives of many Irish public servants are yet to be written about. This biography is a step towards recording a history of the first public servants of the Irish Free State.

The second reason why Smiddy has remained in the shadows is one of practicality; there is very little information about Smiddy in the official state papers held in the National Archives of Ireland. For this reason, Sagarra is the ideal person to write Smiddy's biography. She holds possession of the family archive which forms the basis of the biography, and as Smiddy's granddaughter, she has drawn on her personal memories of her grandfather which offers a personal insight into Smiddy's character.

Sagarra explores Smiddy's career motivations and whether his contributions to the Irish state were enduring. In his long and diverse career he held the post of Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commence in University College Cork (U.C.C.) until 1922. Between 1921 and 1922 he provided financial expertise to the Anglo–Irish Treaty delegation in London. In 1922 he was appointed Irish envoy to Washington D.C. Two years later he made history by becoming Irish Free State Minister to the U.S. This was the first time a dominion of the British commonwealth had appointed an official representative overseas. After de Valera's election success in 1932 Smiddy became his economic adviser, a position he held until 1945. Throughout his energetic and ambitious career Smiddy also sat on a number of government commissions, most notably the Commission of Inquiry into Banking, Currency and Credit (1934–8) and the Commission to Inquire into the Agricultural Industry (1942–5). These commissions, and others, established the economic framework for the new Irish state in the first decades of its existence.

Smiddy's greatest achievements were in his earlier career, particularly in the areas of education and diplomacy. He was a gifted and innovative educator, demonstrated by his implementation of seminars as part of the undergraduate course, his encouragement of collaboration between U.C.C. and Cork's Municipal College of Commerce, introducing a master's programme, and his inter-disciplinary approach to the economics and commerce courses. Smiddy's legacy is an enduring one in his help in creating U.C.C. and founding the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. In Sagarra's words, Smiddy was a ‘true moderniser’.

As Irish Free State Minister to Washington D.C. Smiddy countered propaganda from anti-Treaty forces in the U.S., promoted contact between Irish and American people in public life, established commercial relations between the Irish Free State and the U.S., and encouraged American investment in Ireland. His success in Washington D.C. was summarised by the British Foreign Office which declared in 1928, ‘What a fatal error it was ever to consent to the Dominions having their own diplomatic representation in foreign capitals.’

This book fits alongside the biographies of other men and women who were present at the formation of the Irish Free State and who worked within its administration. It makes a new contribution to how the early Irish administrative process worked and will complement the existing biographies of Irish state builders, such as J. P. McCarthy's Kevin O'Higgins: builder of the Irish state (Dublin, 2006) and Aengus Nolan's Joseph Walshe: Irish foreign policy, 1922–1946 (Cork, 2008), as well as the numerous biographies of major political figures such as Éamon de Valera and Michael Collins. One could argue, however, that Sagarra could have situated Smiddy more centrally into the formation of the Irish Free State, presenting his life in the wider social and political events of the period. In doing so, the reader would have been provided with a more comprehensive contextual background to Irish political events.

Ultimately, Sagarra has provided a unique analysis of a diverse and complex character. Smiddy's contribution to the Irish nation state is clear in his long and admirable career as a public servant. The answer to Sagarra's central question – was Smiddy's contribution to the Irish state enduring? – is yes; his legacy is closely connected to the formation of the Irish nation state and his biography is a welcome addition to Irish historiography.