by Ed Moloney
W. W. Norton and Company
2002, paperback
SKU: 9780393325027
An epic portrayal of one of the twentieth century's longest wars - based on unprecedented access to all the players.
Filled with disclosures and based on the author's unprecedented access to the Irish Republican Army, this explosive book sparked controversy when it was first published in hardcover. Delving deeply into the inner workings, furtive plots, and deadly rivalries of the Irish Republican Army, Ed Moloney, who has covered the IRA since the late 1970s, delivers a riveting account of how one of the world's oldest and most ruthless terrorist groups was maneuvered into ending its thirty-year war with Britain. With revelations including the IRA's long and astonishing associations with Qaddafi's regime, Margaret Thatcher's secret diplomacy with Gerry Adams, the Catholic Church's clandestine negotiations with Republican leadership, and hitherto undisclosed activities of the American government under Bill Clinton, A Secret History rewrites, with dramatic results, the story of this intractable conflict. In particular, fascinating material on Adams's Machiavellian rise to power establishes the IRA leader as one of the most complex political figures of our time. Like Thomas Friedman in From Beirut to Jerusalem, Moloney brings a sharply intelligent reporter's eye to a tangled history often baffling to outsiders. #1 international bestseller; A Washington Post 2002 Rave.
Reviews:
"This is the best book yet written about the Provisional Irish Republican Army." - Eamonn McCann, The Nation
"An important new book." - New York Post
"Moloney throws much new light...on a far from finished conflict...an important contribution to our understanding." - Murray Sayle, New York Times
"Exhaustive and highly provocative." - Publishers Weekly
"Hard to put down." - Irish Echo
"A remarkable story of cunning and guile...deserves landmark status in the field." - Fred Barbash, Washington Post
"A penetrating examination of violent Irish nationalism...remarkably comprehensive yet coolly incisive...an extraordinarily courageous and ultimately optimistic book that brilliantly elucidates past horrors." - Anna Mundow, Boston Globe