Between Two Hells: Ferriter takes stock of Ireland’s ‘small-scale’ yet cruel Civil War

Historian Diarmaid Ferriter’s forensic study of the bitter disputes that drove the Irish Civil War is an important addition to our understanding of the war and its legacy

Doctors attending to wounded soldiers in July 1922 after the Battle of Dublin, which marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War: many young men received no support from the state after the war was over. Picture: Getty

HISTORY

Between Two Hells: The Irish Civil War

By Diarmaid Ferriter

Profile Books, €21.99

As a novelist, the bookcases of my study have no space for fiction – they’re devoted to practical tools such as reference works instead. The Spanish Civil War occupies half a shelf, the Easter Rising an entire shelf and specialist books about Irish history three further shelves. However, I only possess three volumes devoted to the Irish Civil War.

I’m not ...