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PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION

TO BEGIN, I want to thank Jennika Baines and Indiana University Press for going forward with a paperback edition of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary. A decade after he stepped down as president of Republican Sinn Féin and more than five years after he passed away, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and his politics remain important for anyone seeking to understand the Irish Republican Movement since the mid-1950s. It is impossible to fully appreciate where “Provisional” Sinn Féin is today without understanding where they were at the beginning, and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was there at the beginning. Starting with the split in 1986 and lasting for more than twenty-five years, he was the key person involved in laying the ideological and organizational foundation for the many different contemporary Republicans who reject the path taken by the Provisionals—the “Dissidents.”

Contrary to what some reviewers have suggested, this was never an official or authorized biography. As noted in the acknowledgments and elsewhere, in interviews, conversations, and correspondence, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh provided facts and opinions and then let me form my own conclusions. He offered no objection when it became clear that my conclusions would be informed by the perspectives of a variety of people, including his political opponents. His approach to the project and to life in general was shaped by the strength of his own convictions, a willingness to listen to others, and an open-minded, unassuming self-assuredness that is sadly lacking in most political figures, in Ireland and elsewhere.

I again thank the many different people who helped with this biography. In addition, special thanks go to Líta Ní Chathmhaoil, Des Dalton, Marisa McGlinchey, Anthony McIntyre, Dieter Reinisch, and Cáit Trainor for comments and suggestions, and for taking the time to answer my many different questions. Finally, I want to thank Ted Polley of the IUPUI University Library for help with tracking down the quotation from Voltaire.

RWW

Indianapolis

October 2019