Ive never read The singing flame,have to at some stage.
Today is the 87th anniversary of the attack on ballytrain barracks in co monaghan led by eoin o'duffy and ernie o malley while my relatives played there part as well.
Id say that was the last time these too would have been in close proximity.
"still , got to give it to the people of monaghan, they dont take any **** "--constitutionus
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Breens book was a pile of crap in my opinion . Comic book stuff to cash in and make a few bob with his tales of derring do . While O'Malleys books are very well written I believe Barrys work is the best Ive read yet for its basic minimalist approach to what actually happened that manages to convey much more a sense of the reality of the actions than any flowery prose .
The Wehrmacht seemed to agree as well as they made Guerilla Days in Ireland part of the syllabus for their paratrooper Officers course . It was as much a military manual of sorts for fighting (the British) behind the lines as it was an historical/personal account .
American Academic J Bowyer Bells "IRA the secret army" is by far the most authoritative and heavily researched work on the republican genre from 1916 to the early 1970s ever and is extremely enjoyable as an historical read . Anyone wishing to grasp the essence of militant republican separatism as a tradition and in practice should get that one . Unfortunatey RSF seem to have used it as a manual of sorts rather than learn the lessons of republican separatisms tradition of failure throughout the last century.
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I liked Guerilla Days, but haven't read the other two.
I have a soft spot for The Price of My Soul even though it hasn't held up so well.
"Somewhere out on that horizon, out beyond the neon lights/ I know there must be something better/ But there's nowhere else in sight/" - Joe Walsh, "In the City"
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I have recently read the Singing Flame, On Another Man's Wound and My Fight for Irish Freedom -- I have had trouble getting a hold of Barry's Guerrilla Days in Ireland & haven't read yet -- and I think that Breen and O'Malley offer a nice counterbalance to one another, one a good-natured reporter and the other a lyrical novelist.
Here's another good read:
Bloody Sunday: How Michael Collins's Agents Assassinated Britain's Secret Service in Dublin on November 21, 1920
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