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A Coward if I Return, A Hero if I Fall: Stories of Irishmen in World War I by Neil Richardson
A collection of veterans' stories as told by the families, with military records, surviving documents and letters.
Mass Market Paperback
First published September 27, 2010
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About the author
Neil Richardson
58 books2 followersNeil Richardson studied Philosophy in University College Dublin and works as a creative writing teacher and editor. He is also a playwright and two of his plays, Through the Dark Clouds Shining and From the Shannon to the Somme, are inspired by stories from his book on the First World War. Neil is also a member of the Reserve Defence Forces and his family have a long military tradition stretching back over 150 years. His great-grandfather’s experiences in the trenches inspired this collection of Irish veterans’ stories.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 20, 2013
This started out an interesting read and there are some highlights when he talks about the young people who joined up, some of who were too young to serve (Go around the corner and come back 19).
The issue with the book is that the author does not dig deep enough into his subjects and how they fared when they got back and instead tried to stuff the book with as many stories as he could.
So he would have been better to concentrate on a lot less people but give us more about their background and what the effects were on their families back home (for the survivors, injured, dead). And how this slotted into the prevailing mood / changes happening back in Ireland.
He starts on some of these areas but just never goes far enough. So unfortunately a bit disappointing in the end.
The issue with the book is that the author does not dig deep enough into his subjects and how they fared when they got back and instead tried to stuff the book with as many stories as he could.
So he would have been better to concentrate on a lot less people but give us more about their background and what the effects were on their families back home (for the survivors, injured, dead). And how this slotted into the prevailing mood / changes happening back in Ireland.
He starts on some of these areas but just never goes far enough. So unfortunately a bit disappointing in the end.
September 13, 2013
An excellent read, packed with detail but always from the human persepective and not just a bunch of war stats. Neil Richardson has delved into the amazing almost lost and certainly long overlooked stories of Irish men who fought in WWI.
Want to read
August 19, 2012added in error!
June 22, 2015
Poor enough. It failed to grsb my attention and i didnt finish the book
July 3, 2025
Neil Richardson’s A Coward if I Return, A Hero if I Fall is less a work of history and more a sentimental love letter to an imagined version of Ireland’s wartime past, one that’s scrubbed clean of politics, context, or critical thought. Marketed as a reclamation of “forgotten” Irish soldiers, the book instead functions as a quiet act of historical laundering, turning complex imperial entanglements into cozy tales of bravery and brotherhood.
Richardson’s fatal flaw is his absolute refusal or inability to reckon with the political landscape that sent 200,000 Irishmen into the maw of an imperial war machine. There is no meaningful engagement with Home Rule, with the Irish Parliamentary Party’s cynical recruitment tactics, or with the fact that many of these soldiers were fighting ( knowingly or not ) to prop up the same empire that would soon massacre their countrymen on the streets of Dublin in 1916. Instead, we get a neutered narrative of good lads doing their duty, floating in a vacuum where the British Empire is treated like the weather: inevitable, natural, and above critique.
Worse still, Richardson seems almost proudly ignorant of the wider historiography. He makes no effort to challenge existing scholarship or even acknowledge it. There’s no depth, no intellectual ambition, just a patchwork of oral histories and tired tropes about “shame” and “silence,” as though Ireland’s refusal to glorify its imperial past is some kind of national failing rather than a conscious, justified act of political memory.
The prose is pedestrian, the structure episodic to the point of incoherence, and the tone veers toward mawkishness. Every soldier is a hero. Every anecdote is sacred. There is no space for ambiguity, dissent, or uncomfortable truths. The effect is not illuminating, it’s anaesthetizing.
In his eagerness to “honour” Irish soldiers, Richardson ends up erasing the very context that gives their choices meaning. This isn’t history: it’s nostalgic pageantry with delusions of moral courage. He offers readers emotional closure without intellectual challenge, which may explain the book’s popularity, but also its fundamental hollowness.
1 out of 5 stars — for mistaking sentimentality for scholarship.
Richardson’s fatal flaw is his absolute refusal or inability to reckon with the political landscape that sent 200,000 Irishmen into the maw of an imperial war machine. There is no meaningful engagement with Home Rule, with the Irish Parliamentary Party’s cynical recruitment tactics, or with the fact that many of these soldiers were fighting ( knowingly or not ) to prop up the same empire that would soon massacre their countrymen on the streets of Dublin in 1916. Instead, we get a neutered narrative of good lads doing their duty, floating in a vacuum where the British Empire is treated like the weather: inevitable, natural, and above critique.
Worse still, Richardson seems almost proudly ignorant of the wider historiography. He makes no effort to challenge existing scholarship or even acknowledge it. There’s no depth, no intellectual ambition, just a patchwork of oral histories and tired tropes about “shame” and “silence,” as though Ireland’s refusal to glorify its imperial past is some kind of national failing rather than a conscious, justified act of political memory.
The prose is pedestrian, the structure episodic to the point of incoherence, and the tone veers toward mawkishness. Every soldier is a hero. Every anecdote is sacred. There is no space for ambiguity, dissent, or uncomfortable truths. The effect is not illuminating, it’s anaesthetizing.
In his eagerness to “honour” Irish soldiers, Richardson ends up erasing the very context that gives their choices meaning. This isn’t history: it’s nostalgic pageantry with delusions of moral courage. He offers readers emotional closure without intellectual challenge, which may explain the book’s popularity, but also its fundamental hollowness.
1 out of 5 stars — for mistaking sentimentality for scholarship.
December 5, 2020
So they identify as Irish. And they fight the ungodly English. Hence, it makes perfect sense to go to the English Crown's war and kill them enemies of the Empire so there could be more English soldiers in Ireland. Or something. This might be an interesting read some time.
June 8, 2014
A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall is an attempt by author Neil Richardson to tell the stories of the Irishmen who fought in World War I. As I understand it, the changing political climate in Ireland has meant that those men came to be seen as cowards and traitors, fighting in the British Army as Ireland clashed with Britain in attempts to be free from British rule. Returning home, veterans – often suffering from shell-shock and PTSD – struggled to find acknowledgement and respect for what they had gone through.
From my limited understanding as an Australian, this book is much-needed, bringing light to thousands of Irish, many of whom suffered the worst of World War I, fought bravely and, if they survived, then returned home to endure indifference and hatred.
It is difficult to know just what to write about this book. It is incredible. Richardson has put tremendous effort into the research and creation of this book. The writing is evocative, incredibly moving and immensely readable. Like many World War I stories, A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall contains many a sad tale, though other parts may lift the heart – stories of men who endured, who were brave and good in spite of the hell around them.
Richardson gives an overview of all major conflicts that the Irish were involved in and the different kinds of work that was done, and gives more details by providing biographies of some of the Irish who served in these conflicts or had a particular experience of the war. This allows for the reader to understand just what was going on as well as allowing for the personal touch.
The one negative is that at times I thought the writing was a little soap-boxy, though this only registered for me two or three times within the whole book. That said, given the context provided by Richardson, I found that attitude very understandable.
Highly recommended.
From my limited understanding as an Australian, this book is much-needed, bringing light to thousands of Irish, many of whom suffered the worst of World War I, fought bravely and, if they survived, then returned home to endure indifference and hatred.
It is difficult to know just what to write about this book. It is incredible. Richardson has put tremendous effort into the research and creation of this book. The writing is evocative, incredibly moving and immensely readable. Like many World War I stories, A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall contains many a sad tale, though other parts may lift the heart – stories of men who endured, who were brave and good in spite of the hell around them.
Richardson gives an overview of all major conflicts that the Irish were involved in and the different kinds of work that was done, and gives more details by providing biographies of some of the Irish who served in these conflicts or had a particular experience of the war. This allows for the reader to understand just what was going on as well as allowing for the personal touch.
The one negative is that at times I thought the writing was a little soap-boxy, though this only registered for me two or three times within the whole book. That said, given the context provided by Richardson, I found that attitude very understandable.
Highly recommended.
April 23, 2012
great new book worth a read
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews