The last roundup (Roddy Doyle)

An IRA terrorist who fought for Irish independence in 1910s Dublin tells his story. He is Henry Smart, son of a brothel bouncer, who becomes a street urchin after his father goes to jail and his mother turns senile. He joins the movement and rises in its ranks to participate in the 1916 Easter Rising, including the famous attack on the post office.

Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle shines with this epic conclusion to the saga of his indomitable Irish rebel Henry Smart. Chronicling nearly 25 years of history, The Dead Republic finds Smart working closely with, then violently severing ties to, legendary Hollywood director John Ford and eventually returning to Ireland in the 1950s. Desiring a quiet retired life in a small village north of Dublin, his life is further thrown into tumult by IRA uprisings...