http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/40234862

Eamon de Valera the man who was Ireland

For the nearly fifty years that he dominated Irish politics and life - from the country's independence in 1921 to the late 1960s - Eamon de Valera was Ireland. Though he headed a democratic government and espoused liberal economic views, his rule was most reminiscent of Franco's or Mussolini's for the cult of personality he nurtured, for the almost eugenic way he invoked his nation's ethnic heritage (though he himself was half-Spanish), for his overt collusion with the Catholic Church, and for his autocratic control of his country's cultural life. From his childhood (when he immigrated to Ireland - he was born in Manhattan), he was extraordinarily adept at mythologizing himself, and that ability combined with the length and strength of his reign garnered him the admiration of millions of people - Irish and American. In fact, Americans, specifically those of Irish descent, have always been among de Valera's staunchest proponents.

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