Michael's War: A Story of the Irish Republican Army

As reviewed on Amazon.com: "Michael's War is a serious literary work. It is also a page-turner, an exciting adventure yarn--and a warm-hearted love story--and a sound perspective of the tangled history of the Irish struggle for freedom. The characters are memorable and believable--and like so much Irish literature, the narrative sings."

When he set out on his road to rebellion, young Michael Ford had no greater ambition than to spoil the sport of the Kerryman Hunt. But before he was done, he found himself exchanging rifle fire with the British army, with an unlikely ally in the form of Annabel Love, the squire's daughter. Michael's War tracks the course of revolution and civil war that rended Ireland from 1916 to 1923. It ends with its hero escaping to America, leaving behind him the "Legion of the Rear Guard"--the Irish Republican Army that has been a burr under the British saddle from Michael's day to ours.

Publishing history

First published by ASJA Press 2001 in paperback and hardcover editions. First digital edition 2008. Revised 2015 for print publication by Createspace Press in paperback and by Warbird Books in digital format.

Get the paperback

Michael's War is a quality paperback, 6x9 inches, 229 pages, $9.95. The novel is 74,000 words, with a glossary of Irish words and the slang of the day. For sale by the publisher, major online retailers, and most local bookstores (probably with a service charge):

Get the digital edition

As an e-book with the same content (well, except for the back cover!), Michael's War costs $2.99 and is sold by the major online bookstores, including:

The author

As a novelist, Daniel Ford is best known for Incident at Muc Wa and the acclaimed Vietnam film Go Tell the Spartans that was based on it. This and two other novels were published by Doubleday & Co. and are still in print.

As a military historian, he won the 1992 Award of Excellence from the Aviation-Space Writers Association for Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group, published by Smithsonian Institution Press--and in a revised and updated edition from HarperCollins. "War history as it should be written!" exclaimed the reviewer for the Naval aviation journal The Hook.

Question? Comment? Newsletter? Send me an email. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

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