Bobby Sands

Book excerpt: “The author of this opinionated examination of the Northern Ireland ethos is self-described as an ‘average Southern Irishman,’ a World War II officer of the Irish army. While researching a book about the mysterious death of Michael Collins, an Irish patriot of an earlier generation, he confronted hard political facts that challenged his opinions about the IRA. However, it was the charismatic Bobby Sands—who died a prisoner while on a hunger strike at Long Kesh the infamous detention camp from which Sands was elected, against all odds, to the British parliament—who became for Feehan and his Southern Irish conscience ‘a kind of moral catalyst.’ With measured polemic, [Feehan] makes understandable a people’s plight and the betrayal of realpolitik on all sides.” —Publishers Weekly