The Civil War arrived in Limerick with a whimper rather than a bang. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Pro-Treaty Commander of the city, Michael Brennan, negotiated a truce with the Anti-Treaty Chief of Staff, Liam Lynch. But the benefit of this lull in fighting accrued almost entirley to the Pro-Treaty side. They gained time for reinforcements and weaponry to arrive and when they did, the city because a battleground of extreme viciousness. Several buildings were shelled by 18-pounder guns at point blank range. The fighting around the strand barracks was partiocularly heavy. In this new book on the victory of the free state troops in Limerick, Padraig O Ruairc offers a fresh perspective on the struggle that reduced the viability of the Republican's hoped for Munster Republic and set the stage for the battle of Kilmallock which checked the pro treaty rout that the initial stages of the Civil War had been.