O'Halpin's most significant findings relate to the Emergency, when intelligence work was wider ranging and better documented than in peacetime ... energetic, original, and thought-provoking contribution to the history of the Irish state.
Journal of Modern History
His sharply written critique is based on formidable research ... the profusion of detail carries a persuasive sense of certainty about ... Read moremany previously obscure issues.
Charles Townshend, Times Literary Supplement
An excellent synthesis of the development of police and army in independent Ireland.
American Historical Review
For anyone wanting to understand the development of Ireland's defence and security policies since independence, this is the book. It not only contains much new research but the best synthesis and analysis of previously unavailable material.
Journal of Intelligence & National Security
This formidably researched book constitutes a major contribution to the historical understanding of modern Ireland. The first comprehensive accounting of the state's security position from independence to the present, it fills in not just historiographical gaps but a conceptual one as well.
Irish Historical Studies
A fascinating account of how the gardai and the Defence Forces have dealt with foreign and domestic threats, real and perceived, to the Irish state since 1922 ... comprehensively researched and highly readable, it is an indispensable work for anyone interested in 20th century Irish history.
Michael Kennedy, Sunday Tribune
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