Almost a century after his untimely death in 1922, this lively and insightful new assessment explores the man Michael Collins described as ‘father of us all’ and reclaims Arthur Griffith as the founder of both Sinn Féin and the Irish Free State. Since his death when President of Dáil Éireann, Griffith’s role has often been misrepresented. Too radical for some, he was not militant enough for others. His legacy belongs to no single political party today. Colum Kenny argues that efforts to ‘other’ Griffith as ‘un-Irish’ raise uncomfortable questions about Irish identity. A dedicated activist and intellectual, as well as a skilled editor and balladeer, Griffith knew what it meant to be poor. He encouraged women to get involved in the struggle for Irish independence, and, unusually for his time, distinguished between Oscar Wilde’s private life and his work. Griffith’s complex relationships with Maud Gonne, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce are revealed here in significant new ways. The Enigma of Arthur Griffith brings the ‘father of us all’ into focus for a new generation.

As a working-class Dubliner who played a crucial role in inspiring and leading Dáil Éireann in its formative stages, Arthur Griffith's life and world is one of the greatest windows into understanding the dynamics of the Irish revolution. Owen McGee's authoritative biography is based on fascinating original research and presents a fresh analysis and interpretation of Griffith's life and the economic basis of the political history of the era. Griffith has been typified as 'the last Young Irelander' and Owen McGee's masterly account reflects on this by examining the very different conceptions of Irish nationalism that existed before and after the formation of the Irish state. It also suggests that Griffith's belief in the importance of economic freedoms and the ability of an independent Ireland to provide for its own people, was an ideal that inspired the subsequent evolution of the Irish state.

This book focuses upon the role of Arthur Griffith, Ireland's controversial journalist-statesman, and his fellow journalists in the context of the advanced-nationalist press, during the Irish Renaissance: 1900-1922. It evaluates the contributions to the national cause of Griffith and others and contrasts their goals for Ireland, as seen in their newspapers. It reveals the great diversity of opinion among advanced nationalists - a diversity which precluded a united front as they ought to win freedom from English rule. It assesses Griffith's long struggle, first as a journalist and later as a statesman, to unite the Irish behind his plan for an independent Irish state - and why he failed to hold the new nation together as head of its provisional Government in 1922. An index of Irish newspapers which circulated in Ireland during the period surveyed is included.