The Irish Republican Struggle in Limerick : Diary of a 16-year-old Volunteer

Recent decades have seen an enormous resurgence in the arts of memoir and life writing.

Nowhere is this truer than in the case of Ireland and other postcolonial countries where memoir has functioned to re-present meaningful incidents and events in the histories of particular individuals and cultural groups.

This memoir, as written by an "insider", recalls the lives of and struggles of a small yet particularly-active unit of Republican Volunteers in Limerick during a particularly violent period in Irish history.

An important figure in the development of Republicanism and Irish Volunteers in Limerick city and county, Joe Graham can now take his place as a leading figure in the first generation of Nationalist intellectuals and fighters who defined the emergence of the nascent Irish state and who fought, died or were imprisoned for their ideals.

This book is a rare gem that provides a fascinating account of what it was like for a young Irish man to live through a particularly turbulent era of Irish history.

Graham's description of the political radicalization of his generation of Irish people is a unique and important addition to Ireland's historical record.