Seán Lemass enjoys unrivalled acclaim as the 'Architect of Modern Ireland'. Yet there remain great gaps in our knowledge of this mythic figure and his golden age. Up to now Lemass, a colossus of twentieth-century Irish history, was airbrushed to fit a narrative of national progress. Today, this narrative is undergoing an agonising reappraisal. This groundbreaking study reveals the man behind the myth and asks questions previously skirted around. What emerges is an authoritarian, cunning, workaholic patriot; a shrewd political tactician whose impatience lay not just with the old Ireland, but with democracy itself. This is the untold story of a great man and his lasting impact on a nation's imagination.

Autorentext
Bryce Evans is an historian based at the Humanities Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin. A graduate of the University of Warwick and the NUI, he teaches modern Irish and European history in the School of History and Archives, UCD. A regular contributor to the Sunday Independent, his doctoral thesis appraised Lemass' Department of Supplies (1939-45) and has appeared in part across various media.