Henry James Boland was born in Dublin in 1897 into a family with impressive nationalist credentials. His father and his uncle were both active within advanced nationalist movements in Dublin. Later, both of his brothers and his sister would each be directly involved in the Irish “fight for freedom.” In 1904, Harry and his older brother Gerald followed in their father's footsteps, joining the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a secret society devoted to establishing an Irish republic through physical force. In common with many other young would-be revolutionaries, Boland also had a keen interest in the Gaelic Athletic Association, being noted as a skillful hurler and an effective administrator. Like thousands of his contemporaries he joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and, in common with other advocates of advanced nationalism and physical force, joined the anti-Redmond minority when the Volunteer movement was split by John Redmond's call to support the British war effort in September 1914. His attendance at weekly meetings was, however, infrequent, and he did not become a prominent figure in the nationalist movement until 1916. During the Easter Rising, when the most serious threat to his life came from friendly fire, he had the good fortune to help capture and hold captive a British soldier for which he was sentenced to five years penal servitude by court martial. Imprisoned at Dartmoor and then Lewes he demonstrated an indomitable spirit and undertook a series of minor acts of defiance against what was, in reality, a rather benevolent prison regime. His credentials as a hero of 1916 thus secure, he returned to Ireland in June 1917 and became acting president of the Supreme Council of the IRB in May 1918. From his return to Ireland in 1917 until his untimely death at the hands of Irish Free State troops just over five years later, Boland was to play an important role in the attempt to establish an Irish republic.

Unlike both Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera, the life of Harry Boland has been subjected to relatively little scholarly enquiry. His role in the Irish revolution is frequently examined solely through the context of his relationships with both Collins and De Valera. This is unfortunate because, as David Fitzpatrick makes clear in this book, Boland played a significant role in his own right. It is important to recognize this if one is to understand Boland, and it is important to understand Boland if one wishes to truly understand the course of the revolution. In order to rectify this situation Fitzpatrick has conducted detailed research at a wide variety archives in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He was able to consult private papers and correspondence made available to him by the Boland family and was fortunate to be able to include in his research material from the Irish Government's Bureau of Military History released, rather belatedly, in March 2003. As such the book has been researched meticulously, and this is reflected in a work that is detailed and authoritative and that contains much new material.

According to the author Boland was handsome, intelligent, witty, and charming. Fitzpatrick describes him as Ireland's “least hated and most loveable Irregular” (1) and notes that even his political opponents within the fractured republican movement mourned his death on 1 August 1922. It may be going a little too far to claim, as Fitzpatrick does, that Boland “enhanced the lives of all that knew him” (327). The British soldier that he captured in 1916 or the prison officer assaulted by him during his subsequent imprisonment are unlikely to have felt “enhanced” by gaining his acquaintance. Nevertheless, Fitzpatrick is successful in portraying Boland as an intelligent and resourceful man, deeply committed to the cause of Irish freedom, who is deserving of his reputation as something of a lovable rogue. Despite this the book does not shy away from portraying all sides of Boland's character. Fitzpatrick highlights the compromises and contradictions inherent in a man who had a strong sense of honor and Christian values but who was willing to use terror and violence to overthrow British or Irish rule if it fell short of the republican ideal.

This book provides an examination of the range of activities that Boland was involved in during the revolution. These include his remarkable ability to avoid arrest while in Ireland, participation in the sometime farcical but ultimately successful escape from Lincoln Prison of De Valera in 1919, and his use of the IRB to infiltrate other nationalist organizations. A significant proportion of the book is devoted to an examination of Boland's activities in the United States, where he was involved in a bewildering range of activities as both a representative of the Irish “government” and of the Supreme Council of the IRB. Although successful as a publicist of the Irish cause, his activities as a gunrunner and his attempts to organize and control the Irish-American movement were relatively unsuccessful. Fitzpatrick addresses these issues in detail, and in doing so he provides a fascinating insight into the complex world of the competing factions that represented Irish America. That Boland could occasionally make mistakes was demonstrated by his advocacy in January 1921 of a global “race vendetta” against all things English. His vision of a sustained worldwide campaign against the English “monster,” eighty years before Al-Qaida became infamous for advocating something similar against the United States, was predictably counterproductive. It is noteworthy that while he accepted that he had made a tactical mistake in making such views public, Boland did not express misgivings about the idea of advancing Irish freedom through a “race vendetta.” His inability to countenance accommodation with the British and his belief in the justice of the Irish cause and the inevitability of eventual victory informed his judgment until his death at the hands of former comrades more willing to accept the need for compromise.

This is a very impressive book. It is well researched and well argued. It provides new information on the life of Harry Boland, which in turn sheds new light on key individuals and events during the Irish revolution. It is written in a style that is authoritative but that will prove accessible to the general reader as well as to established scholars. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the life of Boland. It will also prove extremely useful to anyone interested in the history of the Irish revolution in general.