The Unfinished Revolution

Well I have continued reading Morgan Llywelen's series on Ireland in the 20th century. most recently with 1972, which starts in 1949 where the last book leaves off, and follows Ursula Halloran's fortunes and focuses on her son, Barry as he struggles with the Republican legacy he inherited from his Grandfather Ned Halloran, who fought in the Easter Rising in 1916 and the subsequent civil war. Barry joins the IRA and takes part in some border raids where he is baptized by fire and finds his idealism confronted by the reality of war. The story climaxes with Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972.


I always had a pretty superficial understanding of "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, but this book does a good job of painting a picture of the situation and how complex and horrifying it was. The IRA had been pretty weak and powerless for quite a while, and the Catholics in the Six Counties in the North were pretty much at the mercy of the Protestant, Loyalist and Unionist forces who beat, killed and burned out poor Catholic families with impunity. When the violence got out of hand, the British sent troops in which the Catholics at first welcomed, thinking they would be afforded some measure of protection. They were quick to realize that the British troops were on the side of the Protestants and did nothing to protect them.


Couple this with the fact that the government of the Republic did everything they could to suppress and destroy the IRA, the Volunteers, as they called themselves, were not safe anywhere. They saw their mission to be to make life as difficult as possible for the British forces, government of Northern Ireland and paramilitary groups who were making life miserable for Catholics in the North. The Provisional IRA, or Provos, broke off from the Official IRA, basically over the use of force. The Official IRA was more interested in the political process than in taking action in the North.


Well pretty soon there is violence everywhere, and while the IRA gets most of the bad press, there are some horrifying acts committed by Orange and Green alike, and it is easy to see why there is so much bitterness and rancor on both sides. I am currently reading the sequel, 1999 which culminates with the Good Friday Accord. The fact that there ever was an agreement is amazing, given all the bloodshed and violence that took place.

Currently Playing:

World of Warcraft (back again)

Currently Listening to:

The Clancy Brothers
The Aquabats
XM 53 Fungus

Last Movie Seen:

Get Smart

I loved it, thought Steve Carrell played it just right, not over the top, which would have been easy to do - it could have been a Saturday Night Live skit easily.