Liam Lynch joined the Irish Volunteers after the Easter Rising of 1916 and quickly rose through its ranks. He reorganised the Cork Brigade in 1919 and in 1921 became the commanding officer of the First Southern Division which controlled all the Volunteer Brigades in the south of the country. A prominent opponent of the Treaty of 1921, he became chief of staff of the anti-Treaty IRA, leading the fight against the pro-Treaty forces until his death in 1923. With the aid of Liam Lynch’s personal letters, private documents and historical records, 'Liam Lynch: The Real Chief' traces the turbulent career of one of Ireland’s greatest guerrilla commanders from his birth in 1893 until his death twenty-nine years later in the Civil War when he was killed in action on the Knockmealdown mountains. This book demonstrates Liam Lynch’s importance in Irish history, including his efforts with Michael Collins, Richard Mulcahy and others to avoid a civil war, and his unwavering efforts to achieve a thirty-two county republic, rather than a partitioned state. Part of the 'Irish Revolutionaries' series being published in the run-up to the centenary of the 1916 Rising.

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Meda Ryan is a native of Bandon in West Cork and now lives in Ennis, Co. Clare. Her published books include: 'Michael Collins and the Women who Spied for Ireland' and the controversial biography, 'Tom Barry, IRA Freedom Fighter'.