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Green Against Green: the Irish Civil War
Michael Hopkinsons Green Against Green has long been established as the definitive study of the Irish civil war. Widely praised and frequently cited as the most authoritative work on the subject, it continues to hold its place as one of the finest works in modern Irish history.
"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
About the Author
Dr Michael Hopkinson teaches in the Department of History at Stirling University in Scotland. One of the world s leading authorities on the Irish revolutionary period, he is also the author of The Irish War of Independence.
"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
About the Author
Dr Michael Hopkinson teaches in the Department of History at Stirling University in Scotland. One of the world s leading authorities on the Irish revolutionary period, he is also the author of The Irish War of Independence.
360 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1988
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258 people want to read
About the author
Michael Hopkinson
7 books3 followersThe historian Michael Hopkinson, who has died aged 72, made an immense contribution to the understanding of the Irish revolutionary decade, 1913-1923.
Born in 1944, he was the son of a Church of England clergyman and an only child; he grew up in Wolverhampton and went on to study modern history at Caius College Cambridge. He studied at Cambridge for his PhD on “The Irish Question in US Politics, 1919-22”.
In 1970 he moved to Queen’s University Belfast where he taught American history. In 1974 he took up a lectureship at Stirling University in Scotland where he later became reader in history; he remained there until his retirement in 2009.
While at Stirling, he taught Irish history and published his groundbreaking history of the Irish Civil War in 1988 under the title Green Against Green. As the political scientist Tom Garvin noted at the time, “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”.
Taking advantage of newly released British state and private papers, Hopkinson was then drawn towards the War of Independence and edited The Last Days of Dublin Castle: The Mark Sturgis Diaries (1999), dealing with the experiences of the Dublin Castle civil servant who was part of a revamped British administration in Ireland in 1920 and oversaw the maintenance of the truce the following year. In 2002, Hopkinson published The Irish War of Independence, based on extensive research in Irish, British, American and Australian archives. Again, he emphasised the importance of regional variations in the conduct of the IRA’s campaign and concluded the war was “more an intelligence triumph for the IRA than a military one”, as well as underlining the contempt and sectarianism that marked the attitude of some of the British political and military establishment towards Ireland.
He also contributed the opening two chapters to volume seven of Oxford’s New History of Ireland in 2003, covering the Treaty and Civil War periods. He wrote highly regarded entries on Tom Barry, Erskine Childers and Michael Collins for the landmark Dictionary of Irish Biography, published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.
- obituary The Irish Times
Born in 1944, he was the son of a Church of England clergyman and an only child; he grew up in Wolverhampton and went on to study modern history at Caius College Cambridge. He studied at Cambridge for his PhD on “The Irish Question in US Politics, 1919-22”.
In 1970 he moved to Queen’s University Belfast where he taught American history. In 1974 he took up a lectureship at Stirling University in Scotland where he later became reader in history; he remained there until his retirement in 2009.
While at Stirling, he taught Irish history and published his groundbreaking history of the Irish Civil War in 1988 under the title Green Against Green. As the political scientist Tom Garvin noted at the time, “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”.
Taking advantage of newly released British state and private papers, Hopkinson was then drawn towards the War of Independence and edited The Last Days of Dublin Castle: The Mark Sturgis Diaries (1999), dealing with the experiences of the Dublin Castle civil servant who was part of a revamped British administration in Ireland in 1920 and oversaw the maintenance of the truce the following year. In 2002, Hopkinson published The Irish War of Independence, based on extensive research in Irish, British, American and Australian archives. Again, he emphasised the importance of regional variations in the conduct of the IRA’s campaign and concluded the war was “more an intelligence triumph for the IRA than a military one”, as well as underlining the contempt and sectarianism that marked the attitude of some of the British political and military establishment towards Ireland.
He also contributed the opening two chapters to volume seven of Oxford’s New History of Ireland in 2003, covering the Treaty and Civil War periods. He wrote highly regarded entries on Tom Barry, Erskine Childers and Michael Collins for the landmark Dictionary of Irish Biography, published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.
- obituary The Irish Times
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 15, 2009
This gets five reviews because its the only good survey of the Civil War out there. Its very well written, and a lot of detail crammed into 250+ pages of material. Invaluable if you ever have to sit an exam on the Irish Civil War!
July 4, 2025
Naturally, it’s super informative and packed full of information. It is very dry though and can sometimes be slow moving. That’s kind of just the nature with books like these. As a tool to give the entire comprehensive study of the Irish Civil War it’s awesome.
February 6, 2022
Simply put, this has to be one of the most authoratative pieces of work on the Irish civil war. An immense amount of detail, it can take a bit of time to process everything while reading it.
November 12, 2015
This is an amazing book that takes a bit of time to process. The amount of research put into this book is astounding and gives it authority in the field. The book was vital in the research for my paper on the causes of the Civil War, despite the difficulties the author mentions in gathering reliable resources for his studies.
January 7, 2016
very interesting well written book. revealing and sad. wars should be better remembered for the cruelty brought on people such as in civil wars. people will not celebrate such wars but maybe mark and think of the sadness that divisions brought onto people bring.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews