This book deals with the events of 1916 and the War of Independence in Kilkenny and the borderlands of the county with Tipperary, is an enlarged and revised edition of The Flying Column West Kilkenny 1916-1921 published in 1987.
The new title is an acknowledgement that much of the action described in the book took place within sight of the storied mountain. It is a much bigger book with some 340 pages compared to 210 in the earlier publication, and there are 150 illustrations many of which have never been published previously. New material has been added and chapters dealing with 1916 in Kilkenny and the famous by-election of 1917, in which W. T. Cosgrave won a key victory for Sinn Féin over John Magennis of the Irish Party, give a national context to the story. Many of the principal players, such as Roger Casement, Thomas MacDonagh, Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Countess Markievicz and Cathal Brugha, are linked to Kilkenny in these revolutionary years.