MacEVILLY, Michael. A Splendid Resistance. A Life of IRA Chief of Staff Dr. Andy Cooney. Foreword by Sean O Mahony.

Illustrated. Dublin: Éamonn De Búrca, 2011. Royal octavo. pp. xix, 427. Hardback in coloured illustrated dustjacket. The appointment of Andy (Andrew) Cooney as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) while still a medical student was the highpoint of a military career which began in 1917 and was not to end until 1944. Prior to this he had served as a Volunteer, GHQ Officer, Brigade Commander and Divisional Commander before being appointed to the IRA General Staff with the rank of Chief of Staff in 1925, at which time he was elected as Chairman of the IRA Executive. Michael MacEvilly’s meticulously researched life of Dr. Andy Cooney sheds valuable light on a chapter of Irish republicanism which has hitherto been seriously neglected. No student of Irish republican history can afford to ignore this book, which is also to be commended for its selection of many hitherto unpublished photographs. - Tim Pat Coogan.