Thoughts on Éamon de Valera?

Hi everyone,

I'm working on an academic paper focused on democracy as an outlet in Ireland. As part of this endeavour I've read some of the authors that have written on the topic: R. F. Foster, Ian McBride, Jim Smyth, Charles Townshend, Diarmaid Ferriter, Michael Laffan, Alvin Jackson, Alan O'Day, Kerby A. Miller, R. V. Comerford, Richard Davis, Michael Doorley, Ronan Fanning, Robert Lynch, Alan F. Parkinson, Michael Hopkinson, Jonathan Bardon, as well as several other academic papers on the topic and various tangents.

Apart from these established authors I have also inquired into the works of more controversial authors like John Mitchel and Tim Pat Coogan. When I read Coogan's opinions on Éamon de Valera, they struck me as quite conflicting with Diarmaid Ferriter's or R. F. Foster's or Ronan Fanning's. So it seems that the topic is controversial, and while respected authors will steer away from risky affirmations, that might not reflect the general grassroots impression.

This is why I'm asking for your help. I want to enrich my auxiliary research into this topic by asking you about what you heard or feel about Éamon de Valera, particularly interested in the sort of information that I can't really get out of books. I hope at least someone has/had a grandparent who shared a story, or learned about at school (accompanied by some personal nuances that professors tend to add to these topics), some general impressions that were passed down to this day.