The Irish War - Hardcover

Tony Geraghty

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002556170 ISBN 13: 9780002556170

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

From the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 to the Downing Street Declaration of 1993, Britain and Ireland have been in mortal conflict over the sovereignty of the Emerald Isle. In this text, Tony Geraghty writes a full account of the tragic three-hundred-year war, tracing the path to today's weary peace. It is a history of England's ruthless aggression against her small Catholic neighbour and that tiny island's utter determination to oust the bullying intruder.

About this title

About the Author

Tony Geraghty is a British subject and an Irish citizen. He is a veteran of the British Red Berets and served as a military liaison officer with U.S. forces during the Gulf War, for which he was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for Military Merit with a citation signed by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Geraghty has also worked in the United States as a writer for the Boston Globe.

From Publishers Weekly

The former chief reporter of the London Sunday Times, Geraghty (Who Dares Wins; The Bullet Catchers) here assesses "Irish identity," which he sees as "the true source" of the continuing troubles in Northern Ireland. The IRA, he says, has hijacked Irish identity and created something that "owes little to real Celtic culture." What the IRA "peddles" as Irish identity, Geraghty contends, is "a powerful, dynamic force which politicizes the natural culture and envenoms it through an obsession not with Ireland but with England." The book's first three sections present a highly opinionated look at the last 30 years of "Troubles," while the last section is a satisfying survey of 300 years of the relationship between Ireland and England in 100 pages. Geraghty uses a patchwork of sources, including interviews with British intelligence and IRA officials and his firsthand reporting of the fighting in Northern Ireland in 1969-1971 as a Times reporter. The author, who served with the British Red Berets and as a liaison officer in the Persian Gulf War, was arrested in 1998 after this book's British publication and accused of violating Britain's Official Secrets Act by mentioning sensitive software. The case was highly publicized in Britain. The book's strengths are its attention to detail and its direct, potent writing. While the revelations pertaining to spy methodology and guerrilla fighting might not strike readers on these shores with the same force as they did those on the other side of the pond, the book makes a compelling introduction to a painful struggle. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0002556170
• ISBN 13: 9780002556170
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 404