O’DONNELL, Peadar. Storm. (A Story of the Irish War).

Dublin: The Talbot Press, London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. n.d. (1925). Octavo. First edition. pp. 143. Blue cloth, title in gilt on upper cover and spine. Stain to upper cover encroaching on to spine. Previous owners signature. A good copy.
Peadar O’Donnell, revolutionary and author, was born at Meenmore, County Donegal, in 1893. He was educated at St. Patrick’s Training College, Dublin, and taught for a while on Arranmore and Inisfree islands. After visiting Scotland and seeing the hardship endured by migrant Irish labourers, he became a full-time organiser for the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union in 1918. He joined the I.R.A. in 1920 and was wounded whilst on active service during the War of Independence. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and was imprisoned for 2 years, escaping in 1924. In June of that year he married Lile O’Donel, daughter of a wealthy Mayo landlord, and became editor of An Phoblacht, the I.R.A. newspaper. He was part of the I.R.A. breakaway group which formed the Republican Congress in 1934, for which he was court-martialed. He helped recruit volunteers to fight in the International Brigade, which fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

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