Product Description

For decades the British and Irish had 'got used to' a situation without parallel in Europe: a cold, ferocious, persistent campaign of bombing and terror of extraordinary duration and inventiveness. At the heart of that campaign lies one man: GerryAdams. From the outbreak of the troubles to the present day he has been an immensely influential figure. The most compelling question about the IRA is: how did a man who condoned atrocities that resulted in huge numbers of civilian deaths also become the guiding light behind the peace process? Moloney's book is now updated to encompass the anxious and uneasy peace that has prevailed to 2007.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223009 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 740 pages

About the Author
Ed Moloney has been Northern Ireland Editor of both the Irish Times and the Sunday Tribune. He has written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines in Ireland, the UK and the USA. In 1999 he was Irish Journalist of the Year. He currently lives in New York.

Customer Reviews

Inside the IRA,sort of.
That's the problem with this book.It says it is an inside account,but,in the nature of underground paramilitary groups,the reader is left to take so much on trust.Virtually all the sources are "Republican source","confidential interview" and the like-it's hard to know what to believe.
For all that,the material from 1976 onwards(Gerry Adams becoming political leader,the dual nature of Sinn Fein and the IRA,the politicisation of the IRA,the drive towards negotiations,and finally Sinn Fein's eclipsing others to become the dominant Catholic/nationalist party in Northern Ireland)is highly plausible and well written.His conclusion,that the extremes have now taken over Northern Ireland,and that sectarianism is more established now than it ever was during The Troubles,is hard to argue with.A depressing conclusion to a depressing history.