ATU Sligo /ATU St Angela's

go

Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Hunger strike : Margaret Thatcher's battle with the IRA, 1980-1981 /

By: Hennessy, Thomas.
Publisher: Dublin : Irish Academic Press, 2013Description: vii, 488 p. ; 33 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780716531760; 9780716531760:; 0716531763; 9780716531753; 0716531755.Subject(s): Thatcher, Margaret -- Political and social views | Irish Hunger Strike, Northern Ireland, 1981 | Ireland -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain | Northern Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1969-1994 | Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1979-1997 | Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- Ireland | Ireland -- Foreign relations -- Great BritainDDC classification: 303.61
Contents:
Introduction -- [Chapter] 1 : contours of conflict : the prisons, 1972-1979 -- [Chapter] 2 : Mrs Thatcher's Northern Ireland policy -- [Chapter] 3 : the first hunger strike begins -- [Chapter] 4 : the collapse of the first hunger strike -- [Chapter] 5 : stand-off -- [Chapter] 6 : the second hunger strike begins -- [Chapter] 7 : digging in -- [Chapter] 8 : persuading the British -- 9 : deal or no deal ? -- [Chapter] 10 : a final push -- [Chapter] 11 : a war of attrition : [Chapter] 12 : the end -- Conclusion.
Summary: This authoriative new history by historian Thomas Hennessey based on recently declassified British government documents, argues that it was amost impossible for the British government to grant the demands of the Republican prisoners, regardless of the impact the hunger strikes had in boosting support for Sinn Féin. The concession of the '5 demands' would have amounted to POW status for Republican prisones and would have fatally undermined the British position that it was fighting terrorism. Controversially, Hennessey concludes that the long-term consequence for the Republican Movement was an irreversible change of strategy, effectively sowing the seeds of the end of the armed struggle as far back as 1981. Thatcher's personal role in the hunger strikes is forensically analysed.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Standard Loan Standard Loan ATU Sligo Yeats Library Main Lending Collection 303.61 HEN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 0091972
Total holds: 0

Includes bibliofraphic references and index.

Introduction -- [Chapter] 1 : contours of conflict : the prisons, 1972-1979 -- [Chapter] 2 : Mrs Thatcher's Northern Ireland policy -- [Chapter] 3 : the first hunger strike begins -- [Chapter] 4 : the collapse of the first hunger strike -- [Chapter] 5 : stand-off -- [Chapter] 6 : the second hunger strike begins -- [Chapter] 7 : digging in -- [Chapter] 8 : persuading the British -- 9 : deal or no deal ? -- [Chapter] 10 : a final push -- [Chapter] 11 : a war of attrition : [Chapter] 12 : the end -- Conclusion.

This authoriative new history by historian Thomas Hennessey based on recently declassified British government documents, argues that it was amost impossible for the British government to grant the demands of the Republican prisoners, regardless of the impact the hunger strikes had in boosting support for Sinn Féin. The concession of the '5 demands' would have amounted to POW status for Republican prisones and would have fatally undermined the British position that it was fighting terrorism. Controversially, Hennessey concludes that the long-term consequence for the Republican Movement was an irreversible change of strategy, effectively sowing the seeds of the end of the armed struggle as far back as 1981. Thatcher's personal role in the hunger strikes is forensically analysed.

Share