Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What is it like to be in the I.R.A. - or at their mercy? This fascinating study explores the lives and deaths of the enemies and victims of the County Cork I.R.A. between 1916 and 1923 - the most powerful and deadly branch of the I.R.A. during one of the most turbulent periods in twentieth-century Ireland. These years saw the breakdown of the British legal system and police authority, the rise of republican violence, and the escalation of the conflict into a full-scale guerilla war, leading to a wave of riots, ambushes, lootings, and reprisal killings, with civilians forming the majority of victims in this unacknowledged civil war. Religion may have provided the starting point for the conflict, but class prejudice, patriotism, and personal grudges all fuelled the development and continuation of widespread violence. Using an unprecedented range of sources - many of them only recently made public - Peter Hart explores the motivation behind such activity. His conclusions not only reveal a hidden episode of Ireland's troubled past but provide valuable insights into the operation of similar terrorist groups today.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction: The Killing of Sergeant O'Donoghue
• Part I Revolution, 1916-1923
• 2 The Kilmichael Ambush
• 3 Rebel Cork
• 4 Dying for Ireland
• 5 The Cork Republic
• Part II Rebels
• 6 The Boys of Kilmichael
• 7 Volunteers
• 8 Youth and Rebellion
• Part III The Path to Revolution
• 9 The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Party
• 10 Volunteering
• 11 Guerrillas
• Part IV Neighbours and Enemies
• 12 Taking it out on the Protestants
• 13 Spies and Informers
• Appendix: Sources and Definitions: I.R.A. Membership and Violence
• Bibliography
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Irish historians have written extensively about the "Troubles" of 1916-23, but few have done so as masterfully or with as much originality as Hart (Queen's Univ., Belfast, and Memorial Univ., Newfoundland). Nor have many writers shown, with as much skill and thoroughness, what the conflict was really like for those who experienced it firsthand. Cork was the most violent part of Ireland in these years, notorious for the boldness of its IRA "Flying Columns" and the savagery with which they and their opponents conducted their vicious wars. Through interviews with survivors and exhaustive archival research, Hart examines the kinds of people who became IRA volunteers and their often mundane reasons for doing so. He also uses specific incidents--the brutal murder of a police sergeant in 1920, the controversial Kilmichael ambush, and a largely forgotten campaign against Protestants in 1922--to illustrate wider issues. The result is an illuminating, often gripping account that students of modern history, politics, and sociology will find immensely useful. Contains a useful appendix of sources and definitions, and an extensive bibliography. Highly recommended. All levels. G. Owens; Huron College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Peter Hart is Visiting Resarch Fellow, The Queen's University, Belfast; and Adjunct Professor, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland.