Eoin O'Duffy was one of the most controversial figures of modern Irish history. A leader of the Irish revolution, and protégé of Michael Collins, he commanded the Irish police and defence forces, before emerging as Ireland's leading fascist politician in the 1930s. A crusading moralist, obsessed with the need to counter public immorality, and a closet homosexual and alcoholic, O'Duffy's remarkable life was characterised by self-aggrandisement, fantasy, and contradiction.