Product Description

For decades the IRA has been one of the world's most feared, ruthless - and impenetrable - terrorist organizations. But during this time Ed Moloney, former Irish Journalist of the Year, has been infiltrating its top ranks and gaining access to its most closely-guarded secrets. Now, for the first time, he breaks his silence. This is the inside story of the IRA: its inner workings and top-secret meetings; its most dangerous informers, bombers and gunmen; the deadly rivalries and betrayals that tore it apart; and the years of behind-the-scenes negotiations with the British and Irish governments. At the heart of the story lies one man: Gerry Adams. Ed Moloney discloses shocking material on his career as an early IRA leader in Belfast and his unrelenting rise to power, asking the question: how could a man who condoned terrible atrocities also be the guiding force behind the ceasefire and the peace process?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #292158 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 624 pages

Review
Few would doubt Ed Moloney's credentials in taking on such a contentious subject. The 1999 Irish Journalist of the Year has spent more than two decades covering Northern Ireland, and in particular the role of the IRA. Dedicating this work to those who lost their lives in the 'low-intensity' war that racked the province and all but 'devastated a whole society', Moloney never lets us forget that the small, steady weekly toll of deaths finally amounted to more than 3,700 lives. The impact beyond the six counties was immense too, with repercussions on the lives of people in the rest of the United Kingdom, Ireland and beyond. The prologue opens as sharply as the best fictional drama as we are plunged into a tale of betrayal and bravery, civil rights, international politics, unspeakable atrocities and the rise and fall of governments. We are taken back beyond the plantations of the 16th century to the 12th century and almost up to date again with the events that led to the Treaty of 1921. Enniskillen, Loughgall, La Mon, Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday too, come under scrutiny. And through it all, there is the underlying hope for the future that prevails even as the peace process struggles and stumbles from one dilemma to the next. Countless characters are considered both within the accomplished text and the accompanying pictures, but one looms largest of all - Gerry Adams, who is compared to Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, the 'competing founders of Irish independence'. As Moloney himself acknowledges, this is not the complete story, and gaps still exist, but in his attempt to go 'as deep as any outsider can go' he more than acquits himself with this fascinating, brilliantly written account of the turmoil in Northern Ireland that came to be known as 'the Troubles'. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Ed Moloney is currently New York correspondent for the SUNDAY TRIBUNE.

Customer Reviews

The only reference book worth having on the modern IRA
I have just finished reading A Secret History of the IRA and have to say it is one of the best books on modern Irish Republican history I have read. Detailed, with firsthand accounts, it tells the history of the Provisional IRA with an insider's knowledge and understanding. If you want to get a handle on what has gone on during the peace process, and how a revolutionary movement such as the IRA and Sinn Fein could have made peace with the British, this is the book to get. It has it all, written in a style that is easy to read and unputdownable. Highly recommended!!!

Someone takes what they read in the papers too seriously!!!
Haveing bought the book when it first came out I got quickly board with it, and only tackeled it again recently. I read War and Peace and Leonardo da vinci while reading this book to eleviate the boardom and almost fell asleep at seperate stages through it.
The first thing he does is puts all the blame on Gerry Adams, makeing claims that he was even Chief of Staff of the IRA at one stage but quitely and quickly mentions that he never even held a gun. Many more outragous claims like this are made through out the book.
He also trys to make it clear that the IRA could have ended the war at any time, and plays up the atrocities commited by the IRA. While not trying to defend the IRA, the unionists (who lead to the creation of the Provesional IRA) and the British Government and Army are above qustion.
Molloney tries to sell this book on the basis of the earth shattering claims that he makes, which are all too easily accepted by people who want to see Sinn Fein behind bars. If Molloney acctualy belive Adams had the power he gives him in this book, then he really does take what he sees in the papers too seriously!!!

While it is hard to understand where the peace process is going as he constantly switchs from Father Reid to Charles Haughy, then forward 5 years, then back to Reid and then to London, the book is saved only by the way it shows the lead up to and the complexities of the split in 1969. Peter Taylors "Provos, the IRA and Sinn Fein" is a much better book

Another view from Belfast
As a student of contemporary Irish history and a life-time resident in Northern Ireland, the words definitive & authoritative [in relation to history books] usually refer to opinions developed around the bars of the Europa & Culloden, with side visits to the Rock or the Phoenix. This is surely such a book. Mr. Moloney takes the usual step of presenting hearsay as fact and expecting the reader to accept his assurances.

This book was not written as history but rather for that niche market [particularly in the US......gasoline bombs?] who envision Adams as the great Betrayer.........of what Moloney does not make clear!!
A waste of money, a waste of time. Mr. Moloney will now join O'Brien, Dudley-Edwards, Elliot in my Rubbish Shelf