Second volume of de Valera biography looks at political years
While the first volume, Rise, was chiefly about Dev the revolutionary, Rule focuses on Dev the politician
Biography: De Valera: Volume II Rule 1932-1975, By David McCullagh, Gill Books, €24.95
When Éamon de Valera first came to power in 1932, senior British government figures thought he had a lot in common with the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. They did not mean it as a compliment. Prime minister Ramsay MacDonald complained that both men had “a mentality which simply baffles one in its lack of reason”, while his deputy Stanley ...