Hope Against History: The Course of Conflict in Northern Ireland - Hardcover

Holland, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805060871 ISBN 13: 9780805060874

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 1999

Synopsis

In Northern Ireland, the conflicting claims and aspirations of Catholic and Protestant, nationalist and unionist, republican and loyalist grate against each other, at each turn escalating the potential for renewed death and destruction. Hope for a peaceful future is not enough to cont with history. In Ulster, history has vanquished hope so often that it seems an act of folly to expect it to be otherwise. Until recently, the crisis in Northern Ireland was deemed a problem without a solution. Now that the major antagonists have agreed to work for peace and democracy, it is time for an authoritative assessment of "the troubles" that have plagued Ulster for more than a quarter century.

A Belfast product of mixed Catholic and Protestant heritage, Jack Holland is both of and above the fray; he is the writer who has stayed close to the terrorists and antiterrorists of every persuasion since 1966. In this cogent and balanced history, he unravels the complex and often misunderstood story of "the troubles," offering an insightful look at the past, a thorough vision of the present, and a glimpse of what the future may hold.

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Review

"If you are not confused, you don't understand the situation."

So said a Belfast graffito of the late 1970s--a hauntingly accurate comment on the political violence that has raged in Northern Ireland for generations. The causes of that violence are complex, and all but impenetrable to outsiders: it has something to do with religion, something to do with economics, something to do with politics, and very much to do with memory and history, along with the local penchant for remembering wrongs and rights for years and years after the actual events.

New York-based journalist and historian Jack Holland, whose ancestors are Northern Irish, Catholic and Protestant both, does much to clarify the confusion with Hope Against History. He writes of the Troubles over the last 30-odd years, a time when militant forces favoring continued union with Great Britain battled those seeking union with the Republic, a battle that quickly degenerated into terrorist warfare that killed far more innocents than combatants. It took too long, and too many lives, before both sides began to see the wisdom of abandoning this senseless sectarian violence for a political solution; the slow evolution of that view takes up much of Holland's detailed narrative. Holland gladly gives credit to opposing political leaders such as Gerry Adams and Gary McMichael for recognizing that each side had a role in determining Northern Ireland's future. He also credits the Clinton administration for its efforts in the peace process--efforts, he suggests, that arose from Clinton's wanting to garner support among conservative American Catholics, but that soon transcended narrow political interest.

As Holland notes, the details of that solution are far from being settled. Still, he suggests, there is plenty of reason to hope that the Northern Irish people, of whatever heritage, will soon find a way out of violence and get on with the work of living together. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author

Jack Holland writes for the Irish Echo and teaches journalism at NYU. A poet and novelist, he is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and co-wrote the 1998 PBS documentary Daughters of the Troubles; his last book, Phoenix: Policing the Shadows, about counterintelligence activities in Ulster, was a best-seller in Britain and Ireland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0805060871
• ISBN 13: 9780805060874
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288