Thursday, February 9, 2012

irish republican army - books - 2000 - The IRA



Tim Pat Coogan
HarperCollins
1970 (2000 Edition)
808  pages


Tim Pat Coogan’s exhaustive book The IRA chronicles the entire history of the Irish Republican Army, right back to the Irish war of Independence that ended in 1916.  What I read was the 808 page edition of Coogan’s history that was published in 2000.  The original edition of the book, published in 1970, was a mere 375 pages (still a long book), but Coogan’s original text was published during the dawn of a new era of IRA activity, and included little information on the then beginning period now referred to as ‘the troubles’.  The Provisional IRA that drove republican violence during that period had only formed in December 1969, and Jerry Adams career in Republican politics was only beginning.  Hence the 2000 edition is double the length of the original book to include all of the IRA history that occurred since the late 1960s.

Coogan is a journalist and broadcaster who worked as editor at the Irish Press newspaper for much of his career.  He has written a number of historical texts on Ireland and Irish politics, many of which focus on the radical edge of their political discourse.  The IRA is a history of the Irish Republican Army going back to its origins (as opposed to Ed Moloney’s A Secret History of the IRA which focuses, primarily on the career of Gerry Adams), and Coogan brings his expertise as a journalist to his research process.  The book, which is quite exhaustive, mixes research collected from the historical record, with personal anecdotes and impressions of meeting with interview subjects.

Over the course of 38 chapters, Coogan has sought to be as thorough as possible with his subject matter.  Part I, which covers the history of the IRA up until 1969, is likely the material that made up the original edition of the book, with the remaining chapters covering post-1969 updates.  Virtually every aspect of IRA history is touched upon in this book, from its formations, to mid-century bombing campaigns, and connections to the Third Reich vis-a-vis their common British enemy.   The early history of the IRA, that may have been subsumed under the recent and dramatic history of the troubles, is surveyed in detail by Coogan.  Furthermore, Coogan gives a similar amount of attention to the post-1969 IRA, discussing its American connections, its arms shipments from Libya, its aggressive use of paramilitary tactics and its expressed solidarity with leftist struggle outside of Ireland.  

The IRA is not just comprehensive as a history, it also contains detailed appendices about the Irish Republican Army’s court martial proceedure and statistics about sectarian violence during the troubles.  Also useful is the glossary that Coogan had placed at the back of his book, making navigating the various acronyms used throught the text much easier.  Furthermore, a chapter on the IRA’s Green Book (instruction manual and ideological guide for IRA volunteers) includes many directly quoted passages at length, giving the reader a lucid look at Provisional IRA ideology.  Furthermore, the text of the book is followed by Appendecies that provide readers with the details of the IRA court-martial procedure and other aspects of the organization’s structure and processes.  

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