In Great Haste: The Letters of Michael Collins and Kitty Kiernan

Collins (1890-1922) is remembered as the man who outfoxed the British in the Irish War of Independence, led the hard-nosed negotiations that resulted in the eventual establishment of the Irish Republic and became head of state at the age of 31. This book looks at him in a startling new light. We don't see Collins the brutal revolutionary, but rather the man in love as he conducted the affairs of an embryo nation. This volume contains 315 letters between Collins and his fiancee, Kitty Kiernan, a hotel keeper from County Longford. It shows him in a very human state: as one of the most important men in Ireland, he apologizes for not writing because ""I had no stamps."" We find that Collins attended daily mass during the treaty negotiations in 1921, always lighting a candle for Kiernan; we see him so exhausted that he was always thinking of getting some sleep; and we learn that he allowed Kiernan to call him ""Ducky""--probably the most innocuous sobriquet ever bestowed upon him. The late O Broin, a historian, and O h igeartaigh, a journalist and TV producer, show Collins as a very humble, earnest man, with only the best interests at heart for both Kiernan and the Irish state. (Sept.)