The emotional journey undergone by some the families of the victims of the Real IRA bombing of Omagh town centre in August 1998, up until the successful civil action against the army council of that paramilitary organisation. It's

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Product Description

The Omagh bomb was the worst massacre in Northern Ireland's modern history - yet from it came a most extraordinary tale of human resilience, as families of murdered people channelled their grief into action. As the bombers congratulated themselves on escaping justice, the families determined on a civil case against them and their organisation. No one had ever done this before. It was a very domestic atrocity. In Omagh, on Saturday, 15 August, 1998, a massive bomb placed by the so-called Real IRA murdered unborn twins, five men, fourteen women and nine children, of whom two were Spanish and one English: the dead included Protestants, Catholics and a Mormon. Although the police believed they knew the identities of the killers, there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. Taking as their motto 'For evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing', families of ten of the dead decided to pursue these men through the civil courts, where the burden of proof is lower. This is the remarkable account of how these families - who had no knowledge of the law and no money, and included a cleaner, a mechanic and a bookie - became internationally recognised, formidable campaigners and surmounted countless daunting obstacles to win a famous victory. How these mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers turned themselves into the scourge of the Real IRA is not just an astonishing story in itself. It is also a universal story of David challenging Goliath, as well as an inspiration to ordinary people anywhere devastated by terrorism.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100361 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'[a] vivid account of events' -- Irish World

`Harrowing and upsetting, it is also inspiring' -- Standpoint

'...a necessary book...puts everything and everyone associated with the Omagh bombing on the record, in context, and with humanity' --TLS

"Once you begin reading, you become gripped by what they did...an inspiration to ordinary people anywhere devastated by terrorism.'
--Tribune

Review
The Omagh families have not only held terrorists to account for the death of their loved ones; their legacy is a new legal remedy for victims of violence everywhere. - Sunday Times, Liam Clark

Ruth Dudley Edwards' account of the Omagh bomb is all the more heartbreaking for her mastery of the small human details… Its portrayal of cruelty and suffering is relevant far beyond Ireland. - Tribune

For anyone interested in this chilling area of recent Irish history, Aftermath is recommended reading. - Sunday Business Post

This vital, powerful book tells a story of loss, resilience and terrorism… this book...recounts a remarkable story of victims’ resilience and vindication, and deserves to be very widely read. - Irish Times

...a remarkable and moving story, told in masterly fashion by Ruth Dudley Edwards. Her narrative grips from the start. It is as compelling as a thriller and displays the sympathetic imagination of a great novel. - Scotsman

The merit of Ruth Dudley Edwards’s valuable book about the Omagh families’ “pursuit of justice” is that it meticulously chronicles how they did so, charting the enormous efforts involved in raising large amounts of money and getting the case under way. - Independent

About the Author
Ruth Dudley Edwards is an historian, journalist and crime writer. Her non-fiction includes Victor Gollancz: a Biography (winner of the James Tate Black Memorial Prize), The Pursuit of Reason: The Economist, 1843-1993, and, most recently, Newspapermen; her eleven crime novels are satires on the British Establishment.

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Customer Reviews

if ever you see cruelty...
The thirty years of murder, destruction and mayhem in Northern Ireland - euphemistically referred to as 'the Troubles' - have spawned a huge literature. It is now possible to read about almost any aspect of the conflict - whether its affect on British-Irish relations, the murderous antics of loyalist paramilitaries with their absurd nicknames ("Mad Dog", or "King Rat"), or the no-less murderous activities of republicans, with their self-aggrandising and self-legitimating narratives (of 1798, 1916, 1969 - take your pick). This book is about that all-too often forgotten group: the victims of terror.

The Omagh bomb of 15 August 1998 was the greatest atrocity in over three decades of carnage in Northern Ireland. The 29 people who died that day (plus the unborn twins whose mother perished), provided a horrific epitaph to three and a half thousand dead over the previous decades. In telling their story - and that of their families - Ruth Dudley Edwards has produced a work of rare excellence.

To the reader who is familiar with the bloodied terrain of recent Northern Irish history, this book offers the most-complete work yet on the latest brand of republican violence - as proffered by the Real IRA. But it also does so much more than that - and in so doing, this is a book that should appeal to a very wide audience. For at the heart of this often-complex story is a quite simple tale: of how a group of ordinary people fought back against those who had shattered their lives and taken their loved ones and said, 'enough'.

There is a tendency when reading anything about wars or conflicts to become jaded or inured to the human suffering that underlies any account that deals with death. With Dudley Edwards' book that is simply not possible. The chapters that deal with the plight of the families - in the 'aftermath' of the bomb - are amongst the most powerful and harrowing that one can read. Any reader with some sense of connection for his/her fellow human cannot help but be moved.

At the end of one of those chapters, Dudley Edwards quotes an old Irish folk-saying, relayed to her by her brother: "If ever you see cruelty, boy, write it in the sky, and then people won't stand for it". Omagh has become a by-word for the worst kind of cruelty; Dudley Edwards' book stands as a warning and exhortation to ensure that we stand true to that most easy of cliches - "never again". For this reason alone, everyone should read this book.

A true account of horror, courage, heartbreak and tenacity.
I lost my wife in 2006, so I know what grief is, the tight feeling in the chest and throat and the tears welling up without notice. While reading this book I felt that same feeling many times but I knew inside me it was not for my wife It was for the families of the of all the people who lost their lives on that fateful day. My feelings when I lost my wife were bad enough, but for these families to lose their loved ones in that manner and so suddenly must have been a thousand times worse than it was for me. I didn't read this book in one session, I couldn't, because I had to keep putting it down in order to compose myself. Ruth Dudley Edwards has written a superb account of the events which took place, it must have been a traumatic experience for her being with all the families, and then becoming personally involved in the aftermath. She has my admiration and my thanks for this book.

More than essential reading
This is a brave and brilliant book. What's more, it is written in an elegant and accessible style. Dudley Edwards is from great academic stock, but today's academics could learn a thing or two from her.

The author deserves great credit for keeping the sordid realities behind this atrocity in the public eye. Because it happened shortly after the Good Friday Agreement, Omagh has a strange place within the peace process narrative - at the time it was seen as the last gasp of violence in Northern Ireland, the deluded denouement to thirty years of terrorism. But this was no consolation to the families of the victims those days, who have had to wait more than a decade for a measure of justice - barely a half measure at that.

The Omagh attack was committed by the most intransigent of Ulsters troglodyte fantasists, who are considered beyond the pale by everyone (even their former comrades in arms). But Dudley Edwards reminds us that these people are part of the same species of those terrorists-turned-statesmen who are lauded on the international stage. For that reason, this is a book for All the victims of the Troubles. It should be read alongside Gordon Gillespie's Years of Darkness.