The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1995 and the Search for Peace

by Tim Pat Coogan

Overview

The Troubles refers to a violent thirty-year conflict, at the heart of which lay the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Over 3,000 people were killed on all sides, and many more damaged by a legacy that continued long past 1998.

After looking at the roots of Catholic discrimination of the Northern Irish state, Coogan points to Orange prejudice in housing, education and jobs and the lack of a Catholic outlet for peaceful protest. He argues that the war in the North started as a civil rights demonstration, but that radical Orange response soon turned protest into war. He takes a close look at Ian Paisley 'the great pornographer'; John Hume, the quiet peacemaker; Gerry Adams, gunman turned peacemaker; and Albert Reynolds, the first prime minister to insist on peace.

In this controversial volume, Coogan covers all parts of the war, from Bloody Sunday in 1972 to the Bobby Sands hunger strike. Although written from a nationalist viewpoint, Coogan has taken a complicated history and explained it simply, with grace and wit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784975388
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/16/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	607
Sales rank:	379,206
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tim Pat Coogan is Ireland's best-known historical writer. His 1990 biography of Michael Collins rekindled interest in Collins and his era. He is also the author of: The IRA, Long Fellow, Long Shadow, Wherever Green is Worn and The Famine Plot.
Tim Pat Coogan is Ireland's best-known historical writer. His 1990 biography of Michael Collins rekindled interest in Collins and his era. He is also the author of The IRA, Long Fellow, Long Shadow, 1916: The Mornings After and The Twelve Apostles.

Editorial Reviews

Coogan, biographer of Michael Collins and Eamon DeValera who has written the definitive history The IRA, here tackles the "troubles" that have plagued Ulster since 1966. After looking at the roots of Catholic discrimination of the Northern Irish state, which was created in 1922 at the same time as the Free State, Coogan points to Orange prejudice in housing, education and jobs and the lack of a Catholic outlet for peaceful protest. He also argues that the war in the North started as a civil rights demonstration in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., but that radical Orange response soon turned protest into war. He takes a close look at Ian Paisley ("the great pornographer" because of his habit of interjecting sexual metaphor into his sermons); John Hume, the quiet peacemaker; Bernadette Devlin, one of the first to put a "face" on the struggle in the North; Gerry Adams, gunman turned peacemaker; and Albert Reynolds, the Irish Taoiseach who was the first prime minister to insist on peace. Coogan looks at all parts of the war, from Bloody Sunday in 1972 and the Bobby Sands hunger strike to the current peace initiative. Although he has written from the nationalist viewpoint, Coogan has also taken a very complicated history and explained it simply, with grace and wit. A primer for those looking to understand the religious bloodshed in the North. Photos. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Coogan, a journalist for the Irish Press and a historian (The IRA: A History, LJ 11/15/1992), has written a readable political history of "the Troubles" (the sectarian war in Northern Ireland) and the varying peace efforts since 1969. Coogan examines all parties to the struggle. Having an excellent vantage point from which to watch and reflect, he reconstructs the past 30 years, from the 1969 marching and riots to the H-Block protests, the MacBride Principles, the Anglo-Irish agreement, and the recent paramilitary cease-fire. Coogan traces the current peace process, stalled by Great Britain's insistence that the IRA hand in its weapons, to the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II. Coogan fills his book with quotes, personal reportage, and wry wit even as he shows that the Troubles turned Ulster into a battleground, embroiled the Republic and Great Britain, and created a generation of children in a war zone. He finishes on a cautiously optimistic note. This title should be part of any history or current events collection. [Following the recent IRA bombings in London, the author added an epilog bringing his book up-to-date. The epilog was not available for review.-Ed.]-Robert Moore, Information Srvcs., Dupont Merck Pharmaceuticals N. Billerica, Mass.

Library Journal