An insightful, searing and clear-eyed account of Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his time as leader of the country during Ireland's greatest crisisFrom the author of the bestselling Haughey, Gary Murphy returns with a m..
Binding: Hardback
Date Published: 17 Sep 2026
An insightful, searing and clear-eyed account of Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his time as leader of the country during Ireland's greatest crisisFrom the author of the bestselling Haughey, Gary Murphy returns with a major reassessment of Ireland's most turbulent political era. In this richly textured account of Brian Cowen's inexorable rise to the office of Taoiseach and his dramatic fall, Murphy offers a ground-breaking portrait of a man and an era that defined modern Ireland. This rigorously researched study examines the decisions, pressures and circumstances that shaped Brian Cowen's 1,036 days as Taoiseach, a period that coincided with the collapse of Ireland's banking system and the state's entry into an EU-IMF programme.Drawing on extensive interviews, documentation and contemporaneous accounts, Murphy explores the context surrounding the bank guarantee, the loss of economic autonomy and the path that led to external intervention. Balanced, detailed and accessible, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of how government, institutions and global forces interacted during a crisis that transformed modern Ireland.
Gary Murphy is Professor of Politics at Dublin City University. He has written extensively on the politics of modern Ireland and is the author or co-author of eight books and dozens of articles and book chapters. He appears regularly in the Irish media and is currently a columnist with the Sunday Times. In 2021 he published Haughey, a cradle to grave biography of another former Fianna Fail leader, and Taoiseach, Charles J. Haughey.
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'An excellent narrative of some of the most dramatic events in Irish history, but also a sensitively written human story' -- Matt Cooper
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