It was commissioned by politician Éamon de Valera, and is not politically neutral, with Macardle reportedly describing herself as a "propagandist, unrepentant and unashamed".
[2] The book, which was first published in 1937, analysed the period from an Irish republican, pro-Éamon de Valera perspective.
[5] The book, along with Frank Pakenham's Peace by Ordeal, features on a number of reading lists for university courses which cover the period.
The book's political allegiances were demonstrated unmistakably when a studio portrait of de Valera featured on the front page of some editions.
[citation needed] Some historians, such as Patrick Murray, have found that the book's outline was substantially laid down by de Valera to create a continuous justification of his political views from 1916 to 1936, that was then fleshed out by Macardle.