Liam Lynch, Chief-of-Staff of the IRA, was known as 'The Chief among Republicans, particularly in the First Southern Division.

Many of his comrades have wondered why he did not get the recognition which they felt he deserved, even though he had been offered the position as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in December 1921. Some felt that in the documentation of history De Valera overshadowed him while others thought that because of the firm stand he took in holding out for a Republic his deeds of bravery, especially before the Civil War, were downgraded.

But Liam Lynch is an extremely important figure in Irish history because of the part he played in gaining Irish Independence, first as Commandant of Cork No. 2 Brigade and later as Commandant of the First Southern Division. The part he played with Collins, Mulcahy and others in trying to avoid a Civil War and his efforts to achieve a Thirty-Two County Republic, rather than a partitioned State, should not be underestimated.

With the aid of Liam Lynch's personal letters, private documents and historical records, The Real Chieftraces the turbulent career of one of Ireland's greatest guerrilla commanders. From his election in 1917 as First Lieutenant of the Irish Volunteer Company in Fermoy to the position of Chief-of-Staff of the Irish Republican Army, Lynch pledged, 'we have declared for an irish republic and we will not LIVH UNDER.ANY other law.' He was determined, 'The war will go on until the independence of our country is recognised by our enemies, foreign and domestic' This book also deals with the controversy which surrounds the death of The Chief when he was shot on the Knockmealdown Mountains on 10 April 1923.

Meda Ryan was educated at Drishane Convent in Co. Cork, University College Cork and New York City College. She is the author of Biddy Early and The Tom Barry Story.

ISBN 0 85.342 764 X  (Out of Print)

Mercier Press, Cork and Dublin