Decoding the IRA - Softcover

Thomas Mahon; James J. Gillogly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1856356043 ISBN 13: 9781856356046

Publisher: Mercier Press, 2009

Synopsis

Historian Tom Mahon, with the aid of cryptologist and code breaker James J. Gillogly, has spent the past few years breaking the IRA's secret communications code, used to pass messages back and forth between Ireland and America from the 1920s until the 1930s - and the results are explosive. From discussions about matters to considerations of deals with the USSR and China, the IRA letters delve into just about every matter conceivable for a paramilitary organization. Some of the ideas are discussions about money and the likelihood of infiltration but others, like the proposal to source nerve gas for use in Ireland, are a dangerous and unnerving insight into how the organization saw itself and conducted its business. With the eye of a historian and the tools of a professional code breaker, Thomas Mahon and James J. Gillogly have together created a wonderful and engrossing read. ""Mahon's books. . . shows the human dimension to the story."" Irish Echo ""General audiences with a love for Irish history may find these relationships fascinating."" Book News ""Contains the useful historic material, confirming many nuggets which had previous existence at the level of reminiscence and lore.""-Irish Literary Supplement

About this title

About the Author:

Tom Mahon is originally from Dublin, though his grandfather was Tom Crofts from Cork, a well know IRA and Fianna Fail personality of the time. Tom graduated from UCD as a medical doctor in 1983, becoming a Fellow of Royal College of Radiologists in 1988 and in 1993 a member of the American Board of Radiology. He is a consultant radiologist in Hawaii, where he lives with his wife and 10 year old son Tommy. He has been researching the IRA for a number of years at archives throughout Ireland. He started working on these documents in the autumn of 2004 before making contact with Jim early in 2005. One of the foremost crytologists in the USA, Jim Gillogly has had a long history with both computers and cryptology. He has worked at RAND, gained a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and cracked some of the world's most mysterious codes.

Review:

General audiences with a love for Irish history may find these relationships fascinating. --Book News

Contains the useful historic material, confirming many nuggets which had previous existence at the level of reminiscence and lore. --Irish Literary Supplement

About this edition

• Publisher: Mercier Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1856356043
• ISBN 13: 9781856356046
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 348