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The Chroniclers of Violence in Northern Ireland: The First Wave Interpreted
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
Extract
Perhaps the only undeniable blessing to evolve from the recent troubles in Northern Ireland has been miniboom in the publishing industry. Seldom have so many, written so quickly, on a subject understood by so few—and turning, one assumes, a decent profit for their effort. Traditionally contemporary modern Ireland has attracted the occasional coffee-table volume or the nearly annual The Irish, potted “sociology.” Until quite recently, few scholars have ventured into contemporary affairs—those events after the revolutionary years of 1916–1921—and almost none of the tools of social science have been put to use on Irish society. Thus the latest commentators found a truly virgin field, bereft of valid experts, congenial to anecdote, fashionably violent, amusingly Irish and if not fit for the coffee table certainly attractive in the market-place. The result has been a twofold outpouring: first of those who would chronicle in print what had been for the British audience nightly fare on the television and second of those more committed or more daring who would interpret, analyze, explain and predict. The former, however ill-prepared, sought to write history, however superficially, while the latter sought to make it by rearranging the past to buttress their vision of the future. Neither the observers nor the participants have in print as yet produced a single definitive work nor in fact a very satisfactory plain tale of events—much less a revelation into the nature of the conflict in Northern Ireland. The attempts of this first wave to date, however, offer some insights into the Northern Ireland problem, into the nature of Irish and British scholarship and, perhaps, into the future that awaits the most distressful Six-counties.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1972
References
1 It should, one supposes, be pointed out that, despite fair-minded and decent Lord O'Neill, he was very much one of his own, no island of enlightenment but part of the main. Consider: “Protestant girl required for housework. Apply to the Hon.Mrs. TerenceO'Neill, Glebe House, Ahoghill, Co. Antrim.” Belfast Telegraph, 12, 1959.
2 For example, not until the midsixties did any academicians undertake survey research in Northern Ireland and the first commercial undertaking was commissioned by the Belfast Telegraph in 1966. SeeRose, Richard, “Ulster Politics, A Select Bibliography of the Troubles,” forthcoming in 1972Google Scholar in Political Studies.
3 The works mentioned in the text by no means exhaust the recent literature on Northern Ireland. The Dublin arms smuggling scandal has engendered several not very informative works: Brady, Seamus, Arms and the Men (Dublin: Brady, 1971)Google Scholar;MacIntyre, T., To the Bridewell Gate (London: Faber & Faber, 1971)Google Scholar;Kelly, James, Orders for the Captain? (Dublin: Kelly, 1971)Google Scholar. On the other hand, several solid works on far broader subjects have relevance to the recent troubles: Lysaght's, D. R. O'ConnorThe Republic of Ireland (Cork: Mercier, 1971)Google Scholar,Calvert's, HarryConstitutional Law in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Stevens and Sons and Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 1968)Google Scholar and Martin Wallace's new book on the Northern Ireland government since 1921. With rare exceptions, most elite newspapers felt it necessary to give at some point extended coverage to Northern Ireland (New York Times Magazine or Mary Holland's pieces in the Sunday Observer) and many periodicals accepted pieces on Ireland. The Sunday Times (London) Insight Team's Investigation will be published in 1972 by Andre Deutsch. One of the most astute and thoughtful of the journalists has been Michael McInerney of the Irish Times, whose analysis deserves more permanent form. The pamphlet literature, as might be expected, is massive stretching from the wilder shores of Unionism (Rev.Ian, Paisley D. D.Northern Ireland, What is the Real Situation? Bob Jones University Press, 1969)Google Scholar on through Unionist apologies or explanations (for example, the most curious Commentary by the Government of Northern Ireland to Accompany the Cameron Report Cmd. 534, Belfast, 1969)Google Scholar toGreaves, DesmondNorthern Ireland: Civil Rights and Political Wrongs, published by the English Communist Party (London, 1969)Google Scholar — and see his forthcoming The Irish Question, 1971 (London: Lawrence and Wishart). Of the massive lot, two stand out — neither readily available to an American audience.The Orange and Green, A Quaker Study of Community Relations in Northern Ireland published by the Northern Friends' Peace Board (Brigflatts, Sedbergy, Yorkshire, England, 1969)Google Scholar is the best short account of the problem comparable in tone and approach to the exceedingly valuable The Northern Ireland Problem (London: Oxford University Press, 1962)Google Scholar of Barrit, Dennis P. and Carter, Charles F.. The other is Mike Farrell's Struggle in the North (Belfast, People's DemocracyGoogle Scholar, 84 Albert Street) detailing not only the strategy of the civil rights movement but also the maneuvers of the Dublin politicians in the troubled waters of the six counties. See, also,Egon, Bowes and McCormack, Vincent, Burntollet (London: L. R. S. Publisher, 1969)Google Scholar.