Throughout the collection, Heaney's gifts as a wise and genial reader are exercised with characteristic exactness, and we are reminded, above all, of the essentially gratifying nature of poetry itself.

    It will be indispensable reading for those who wish to understand the bloody birth of independent Ireland." Michael Laffan, Irish Historical Studies"Michael Hopkinson has finally broken the taboo on research into this crucial event in Irish political history and has given us the first full-length, archive-based history of the Irish Civil War." Tom Garvin, Irish Literary Supplement"Dr Hopkinson's outstanding achievement is that he is always concise and yet has produced much the most comprehensive and valuable account of the civil war ever published." Ronan Fanning, New Nation"A model of objectivity and detailed knowledge." James Healy, Studies."Thoroughly researched and well-written it is a dispassionate account of the most passionate of times." T Ryle Dwyer, Irish Times

    It portrays, in Beckett's spare style, a "consciousness" exploring a "self," faced with uncertainties about its own existence. Stirring Still is a spellbinding work, full of a sense of farewell.