Peadar O'Donnell by Peter Hegarty (Mercier, £12.99)

This well-illustrated biography is rather weak on the historical background. Peter Hegarty belies his original research by listing secondary sources only in the bibliography. One wonders why he bothered providing a potted history of the War of Independence; observations such as, the 1921 Treaty did not go "much further" than the Home Rule Bill in advancing Irish independence, do not inspire confidence in his understanding of the period. Peadar O'Donnell dismissed Michael Collins as a "Fenian Home Ruler". Paradoxically, muddled thinking delineates the bleak Civil War landscape. However, the Derry-born author writes with authority about O'Donnell's activities in his native Donegal. By the 1930s he is in command of his subject, having spoken to people who knew O'Donnell (1893-1986) as IRA army council member, socialist and writer.