An examination of five years in the birth of a nation - from the break-up of the Irish parliament into pro- and anti-treaty factions in the summer of 1921 to the aftermath of the bloody fighting in 1924 - preserved by the camera lens. George Morrison shows the photographs he has amassed - many restored to enhance detail - in context, recording who photographed them, when, and for what purpose. Tim Pat Coogan provides a text which sets the events of the Civil War in their chronological order. The book includes a chapter on propaganda photography.