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The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal and the Search for Peace
Noted Irish journalist Tim Pat Coogan covers the tortured history of Ireland from the beginning of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, through the long, horrible years of violence, and up to the attempts to find peace. Coogan, author of the definitive biography of Michael Collins, knows what he's writing about, and his access to many of the principals gives this book a particular authority. Going beyond the slogans and tabloid headlines, Coogan provides a good hard look at many of the characters, some of whom prefer to live in the shadows, who act out the deadly drama of divided Ireland.
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First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Tim Pat Coogan
50 books243 followersTimothy Patrick Coogan is an Irish historical writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987. Today, he is best known for his popular and sometimes controversial books on aspects of modern Irish history, including The IRA, Ireland Since the Rising, On the Blanket, and biographies of Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera.
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September 21, 2025
“The Troubles” – it's a strange name for a war. In Northern Ireland, over the three decades between 1969 and 1998, 3000 people died violent deaths in a province the size of Connecticut; but we call it “The Troubles” – a name that seems more suitable to a long-standing family quarrel. At the same time, the civil conflict in Northern Ireland was in many ways a family quarrel, carried on between antagonists who knew each other exceedingly well, as Tim Pat Coogan conveys in his book The Troubles.
Coogan, a former Irish Press editor, brings to his authorship of The Troubles decades of knowledge and experience studying the Northern Ireland conflict; he seems to know everyone involved in the conflict, and his encyclopedic knowledge of Irish history serves him well as he sets forth his history of the Troubles.
Going all the way back to the medieval beginnings of British involvement in Ireland, Coogan quickly brings the reader forward to the year 1969, when long-standing grievances between Northern Ireland’s dominant unionist, Protestant majority and the province’s largely disenfranchised nationalist, Catholic minority burst out in violence. Coogan’s journalistic experience serves him well through the way he cites primary sources, as when he provides the testimony of a Catholic priest recalling an August 1969 unionist attack on a Catholic neighborhood of Belfast: “We remember this night when the Falls Road area was devastated by gunfire and by petrol bombs. In the early hours of the morning I was standing at a fourth storey window of Clonard, looking out at a scene of desolation” (p. 100).
Coogan has sometimes been criticized for writing about the Northern Ireland conflict, and the history of Ireland generally, from an excessively nationalist perspective. And it is true that Coogan has written books about Michael Collins, but not Sir Edward Carson; about the IRA, but not the UVF. Yet Coogan is open about his inclinations toward the nationalist perspective; the book’s subtitle -- Ireland’s Ordeal and the Search for Peace -- provides a clear sense of the extent to which Coogan sees the Northern Ireland conflict as part of the broader sweep of Irish history generally.
Coogan is frank about his perspective on the Troubles, as when he says that in a television debate with an Ulster unionist, “I argued as a Nationalist,” while his opponent “considered himself British and adumbrated the principles of his Belfast, Unionist and Protestant background” (p. 375). He is not pretending to be a disinterested and altogether objective observer; rather, he is reporting the on-the-ground facts from Northern Ireland, and stating what those facts mean to him.
Coogan is most conscientious in setting forth the intricacies and complexities of the conflict’s intelligence and media dimensions. Chapter 10, “Legal Weaponry,” dealing as it does with the military-intelligence dimension of the Troubles, may give unwary readers a bit of a headache. Before reading Coogan’s book, for example, I was not aware of a conflict between British intelligence agencies MI-5 (domestic intelligence) and MI-6 (foreign intelligence) regarding “whether the Six Counties [of Northern Ireland] were part of the ‘UK mainland’ or the ‘UK overseas’” (p. 291).
Interesting to imagine that conversation, isn’t it? An MI-5 agent points out that Northern Ireland is one of the four largest units of the United Kingdom, along with England, Scotland, and Wales – “U.K. mainland,” obviously. In reply, an MI-6 agent sips his tea or claret and says, “My dear fellow, you will pardon me for pointing out that Northern Ireland is separated from Great Britain by North Channel and the Irish Sea, and is therefore clearly to be regarded as ‘U.K. overseas.’”
Chapter 11, “The Media War,” discusses perceptively the efforts of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government to control the terms in which the conflict was discussed, banning some programs and demanding the editing of others, but may be most memorable for Coogan’s verdict regarding Great Britain’s often strident tabloid newspapers: “Where the tabloid press is concerned, let me say merely that, as with Aids and cancer, I hope that some day a cure will be found” (p. 377). Well, a cure was eventually found for the late and unlamented News of the World, anyway.
Coogan is often harshly critical of unionist leaders like Ian Paisley, and of the Thatcher ministry’s approach to the Troubles. But he praises American leaders like U.S. President Bill Clinton, who worked hard to bring the opposing parties to the negotiating table in the 1994 ceasefire.
This book, published in 1996, fairly cries out for an update, considering that just two years later, the Good Friday accords of 1998 brought to troubled Northern Ireland a peace agreement that, miraculously, has lasted.
I read The Troubles while traveling in Northern Ireland, and was delighted to find, in my visit to the province, that the commitment to peace among citizens of Northern Ireland, whatever their political convictions, is strong. In Belfast, one can, if one wishes, take a “black taxi” tour and see the wall murals in the nationalist and unionist neighborhoods that were epicenters of the Troubles; or one can tour the very fine Titanic museum by the old Harland & Wolff docks, and observe how Belfast works to re-define herself.
In Derry/Londonderry, historically a city so divided that its citizens can’t even agree upon what the city should be called (it is sardonically referred to as “Stroke City,” for the keystroke that separates the city's two alternate names), there is a Peace Bridge across the River Foyle, and a Peace Flame, and a statue called “Hands Across the Divide” that shows two people, symbolic of the Catholic/nationalist and Protestant/unionist communities, reaching toward each other across the space between them – not quite clasping hands in friendship just yet, but almost there.
The details of the Northern Ireland conflict, as one reads about them in Coogan’s book, are painful in the extreme; but today, almost thirty years after the Good Friday accords were signed, one can look at the relatively peaceful modern life of the once-troubled province with a strong sense of hope. And if peace can take hold in a war-torn place like Northern Ireland, perhaps someday it can take hold everywhere.
Coogan, a former Irish Press editor, brings to his authorship of The Troubles decades of knowledge and experience studying the Northern Ireland conflict; he seems to know everyone involved in the conflict, and his encyclopedic knowledge of Irish history serves him well as he sets forth his history of the Troubles.
Going all the way back to the medieval beginnings of British involvement in Ireland, Coogan quickly brings the reader forward to the year 1969, when long-standing grievances between Northern Ireland’s dominant unionist, Protestant majority and the province’s largely disenfranchised nationalist, Catholic minority burst out in violence. Coogan’s journalistic experience serves him well through the way he cites primary sources, as when he provides the testimony of a Catholic priest recalling an August 1969 unionist attack on a Catholic neighborhood of Belfast: “We remember this night when the Falls Road area was devastated by gunfire and by petrol bombs. In the early hours of the morning I was standing at a fourth storey window of Clonard, looking out at a scene of desolation” (p. 100).
Coogan has sometimes been criticized for writing about the Northern Ireland conflict, and the history of Ireland generally, from an excessively nationalist perspective. And it is true that Coogan has written books about Michael Collins, but not Sir Edward Carson; about the IRA, but not the UVF. Yet Coogan is open about his inclinations toward the nationalist perspective; the book’s subtitle -- Ireland’s Ordeal and the Search for Peace -- provides a clear sense of the extent to which Coogan sees the Northern Ireland conflict as part of the broader sweep of Irish history generally.
Coogan is frank about his perspective on the Troubles, as when he says that in a television debate with an Ulster unionist, “I argued as a Nationalist,” while his opponent “considered himself British and adumbrated the principles of his Belfast, Unionist and Protestant background” (p. 375). He is not pretending to be a disinterested and altogether objective observer; rather, he is reporting the on-the-ground facts from Northern Ireland, and stating what those facts mean to him.
Coogan is most conscientious in setting forth the intricacies and complexities of the conflict’s intelligence and media dimensions. Chapter 10, “Legal Weaponry,” dealing as it does with the military-intelligence dimension of the Troubles, may give unwary readers a bit of a headache. Before reading Coogan’s book, for example, I was not aware of a conflict between British intelligence agencies MI-5 (domestic intelligence) and MI-6 (foreign intelligence) regarding “whether the Six Counties [of Northern Ireland] were part of the ‘UK mainland’ or the ‘UK overseas’” (p. 291).
Interesting to imagine that conversation, isn’t it? An MI-5 agent points out that Northern Ireland is one of the four largest units of the United Kingdom, along with England, Scotland, and Wales – “U.K. mainland,” obviously. In reply, an MI-6 agent sips his tea or claret and says, “My dear fellow, you will pardon me for pointing out that Northern Ireland is separated from Great Britain by North Channel and the Irish Sea, and is therefore clearly to be regarded as ‘U.K. overseas.’”
Chapter 11, “The Media War,” discusses perceptively the efforts of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government to control the terms in which the conflict was discussed, banning some programs and demanding the editing of others, but may be most memorable for Coogan’s verdict regarding Great Britain’s often strident tabloid newspapers: “Where the tabloid press is concerned, let me say merely that, as with Aids and cancer, I hope that some day a cure will be found” (p. 377). Well, a cure was eventually found for the late and unlamented News of the World, anyway.
Coogan is often harshly critical of unionist leaders like Ian Paisley, and of the Thatcher ministry’s approach to the Troubles. But he praises American leaders like U.S. President Bill Clinton, who worked hard to bring the opposing parties to the negotiating table in the 1994 ceasefire.
This book, published in 1996, fairly cries out for an update, considering that just two years later, the Good Friday accords of 1998 brought to troubled Northern Ireland a peace agreement that, miraculously, has lasted.
I read The Troubles while traveling in Northern Ireland, and was delighted to find, in my visit to the province, that the commitment to peace among citizens of Northern Ireland, whatever their political convictions, is strong. In Belfast, one can, if one wishes, take a “black taxi” tour and see the wall murals in the nationalist and unionist neighborhoods that were epicenters of the Troubles; or one can tour the very fine Titanic museum by the old Harland & Wolff docks, and observe how Belfast works to re-define herself.
In Derry/Londonderry, historically a city so divided that its citizens can’t even agree upon what the city should be called (it is sardonically referred to as “Stroke City,” for the keystroke that separates the city's two alternate names), there is a Peace Bridge across the River Foyle, and a Peace Flame, and a statue called “Hands Across the Divide” that shows two people, symbolic of the Catholic/nationalist and Protestant/unionist communities, reaching toward each other across the space between them – not quite clasping hands in friendship just yet, but almost there.
The details of the Northern Ireland conflict, as one reads about them in Coogan’s book, are painful in the extreme; but today, almost thirty years after the Good Friday accords were signed, one can look at the relatively peaceful modern life of the once-troubled province with a strong sense of hope. And if peace can take hold in a war-torn place like Northern Ireland, perhaps someday it can take hold everywhere.
October 1, 2022
Tim Pat Coogan was the editor of the Irish Press newspaper for two decades, as well as the author of many books about modern Irish history-- specifically the Troubles for the most part. This journalistic background shines through clearly in what another reviewer called the "excruciating detail" of this book, "The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace." It reads like a 430-page newspaper article. Dense, meticulously sourced, and probably suited to readers with a modest depth of knowledge on Northern Ireland from 1950 to the 1990s. As an American who was only a teenager during the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, I often found myself lost in a text that took for granted a certain level of knowledge about the Troubles. For savvy Irish readers, this one should be no problem, but I admit I found myself using Google for names, occurrences, and places every few pages.
I have always loved Coogan's subsequent book, The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy. I consider it one of the best historical examinations not just of Ireland at a certain time and place, but of any topic written in the past 25 years. However, even if "The Troubles" was exhaustive, but it was extremely slow going and lacks for narrative. Instead it often read like a recitation of facts with little context. One other odd thing was (and granted, this was common knowledge going in) that it stops abruptly prior to the signing of the GFA. An updated version encompassing all that happened in and after 1998 has mysteriously never been written.
If you want a single introductory volume on the Troubles, this may not be it. If you have a solid foundation and want to expand upon that, this book may be more valuable.
I have always loved Coogan's subsequent book, The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy. I consider it one of the best historical examinations not just of Ireland at a certain time and place, but of any topic written in the past 25 years. However, even if "The Troubles" was exhaustive, but it was extremely slow going and lacks for narrative. Instead it often read like a recitation of facts with little context. One other odd thing was (and granted, this was common knowledge going in) that it stops abruptly prior to the signing of the GFA. An updated version encompassing all that happened in and after 1998 has mysteriously never been written.
If you want a single introductory volume on the Troubles, this may not be it. If you have a solid foundation and want to expand upon that, this book may be more valuable.
October 28, 2024
“I refuse to play the condemnation game. Let me make myself clear. I do not tell oppressed people how to resist their oppression or who their allies should be.” [Arundhati Roy, premiazione per il PEN Pinter Prize 2024]
Dal taglio più aneddottico/giornalistico che non storico - come comprensibile dato l'anno di scrittura/uscita del libro e come anche ammesso dall'autore, dove - prima di indicare comunque una corposa lista di materiale bibliografico - dichiara "One of the major sources for this book cannot easily be catalogued: my own experience of living through the period described. As this resource, if resource it is, has been drawn upon copiously, I am tempted to invoke Virgil in seeking the reader’s indulgence: Experto credite (Trust one who has gone through it!). More importantly, I should point out that where matters of fact are concerned I have sometimes had to make use of conversations with friends and contacts whose positions do not permit of attribution. I am deeply indebted to such people for sharing their insights with me about matters which were always delicate, and sometimes dangerous, and I ask the reader’s indulgence for not lifting the veil of secrecy any further, The Troubles fornisce una sostanziosa visuale sulle vicende politiche che hanno accompagnato il conflitto.
E la politica - sia essa quella londinese (la cui responsibilità morale e storica sulla vicenda è indiscutibile quanto troppo spesso dimenticata) sia quella di dublino - ne esce con le ossa rotta. (Della politica lealista non credo sia necessario parlarne. Una filosofia basata sulla supremazia e sull'oppressione delle minoranze non dovrebbe aver ragione di esistere, e non dovrebbe mai venir concessa alcuna giustificazione ad essa. Non sorprenderà sapere che nel civilissimo occidente le derive fasciste e suprematiste sono sempre di moda)
Il gioco tra le parti, l'interessa bieco e personale nel tenersi la poltrona, l'indifferenza per problemi ritenuti lontani, la carta bianca lasciata a esercito, servizi segreti, servizi di propaganda, la complicità di una stampa interessata al rinfocolare l'orgoglio di un impero decaduto o del partito al potere di turno, sono pochissimi gli scorci di luce negli oltre 30 anni di conflitto.
E non rimane che ripensare a due estratti riportati da Coogan, all'inizio e alla fine del libro, e pensare che if someone gave a damn tanta, tanta sofferenza sarebbe potuta essere evitata.
1969
[...]
Well they failed. They did not completely destroy the school, although they did extensive damage to it. And they did not damage the monastery at all, although they did succeed in getting one fire bomb into our backyard, within two feet of the back door. They did succeed in getting up on a shed, with evil intent of course. But they were repulsed. They failed in their evil design that night. But their failure, my dearest men, was not due to any protection given by the forces of law and order. Let that be recorded. Let it also be recorded that they failed because of the bravery of the local lads who, totally unprepared and ill equipped, and comparatively speaking defenceless, fought against terrible odds, and saved this district from complete destruction.
For, let there be no doubt about it, that was the objective that night, complete destruction. Well, my dearest men, there’s the story of the attack, savage, murderous attack made on the Clonard area during these days of madness. I gave you the story as I saw it because I knew you’d be interested. Now a few more points before I finish. These were terrible days, my dearest men, but some good has already come from these attacks on our communities. [...]
You have the extremists and you have their leaders, and you have the so-called leaders of this little state who have done nothing at all to deal with those people. That is an abuse which we hope will be remedied. What we are aiming at now, my dearest men, is justice. Justice, no more and certainly no less, certainly no less, my dearest men. So I suggest that is one lesson that we must learn from what has happened. We demand justice, we’re not just begging it. We demand it. It’s our right. We demand it and we’ll keep on demanding it until we get it. We don’t ask for any more. Just a fair deal. No discrimination in housing, or voting power, or jobs, or anything else. So I suggest that you pray, my dearest men, that soon we will have a community where everybody, irrespective of his religious belief, or irrespective of his political ideology, will be able to lead a normal life and will not be unjustly discriminated against, as has happened so often in the last fifty years. So pray, my dearest men, all of us pray, that we will have a society, that Catholic and Protestant will have a society where they will live, as they should live, helping each other out. We must live together. It is a mixed society, but that does not mean that we will not demand justice. We pray tonight that God will give us that justice which is our due.
1994
O’Dowd remembered how he felt going into the historic meeting with the Sinn Fein leadership:
I was always impressed with their honesty. Always impressed with their directness. Always impressed that whatever they said, they delivered on. And there were times when it had been very tough. We were really speaking a different language coming from here [New York] in trying to understand where they were coming from.
These were men (and women) who had lived in a situation for 25 years where every day could be their last. They were coming from a place where, whatever demonisation had occurred, they had survived everything. They had survived the second most powerful army in the world throwing everything at them. They had survived total indifference and disdain from Dublin. They had survived large sections of their support being eaten away by the SDLP. They had survived death squads and punishment shootings. Everything…
They were people whom you knew had experienced something, something very deep and a truly revolutionary thing. Their camaraderie was impressive. Of course there were times when you became aware that they were also dangerous people…
Dal taglio più aneddottico/giornalistico che non storico - come comprensibile dato l'anno di scrittura/uscita del libro e come anche ammesso dall'autore, dove - prima di indicare comunque una corposa lista di materiale bibliografico - dichiara "One of the major sources for this book cannot easily be catalogued: my own experience of living through the period described. As this resource, if resource it is, has been drawn upon copiously, I am tempted to invoke Virgil in seeking the reader’s indulgence: Experto credite (Trust one who has gone through it!). More importantly, I should point out that where matters of fact are concerned I have sometimes had to make use of conversations with friends and contacts whose positions do not permit of attribution. I am deeply indebted to such people for sharing their insights with me about matters which were always delicate, and sometimes dangerous, and I ask the reader’s indulgence for not lifting the veil of secrecy any further, The Troubles fornisce una sostanziosa visuale sulle vicende politiche che hanno accompagnato il conflitto.
E la politica - sia essa quella londinese (la cui responsibilità morale e storica sulla vicenda è indiscutibile quanto troppo spesso dimenticata) sia quella di dublino - ne esce con le ossa rotta. (Della politica lealista non credo sia necessario parlarne. Una filosofia basata sulla supremazia e sull'oppressione delle minoranze non dovrebbe aver ragione di esistere, e non dovrebbe mai venir concessa alcuna giustificazione ad essa. Non sorprenderà sapere che nel civilissimo occidente le derive fasciste e suprematiste sono sempre di moda)
Il gioco tra le parti, l'interessa bieco e personale nel tenersi la poltrona, l'indifferenza per problemi ritenuti lontani, la carta bianca lasciata a esercito, servizi segreti, servizi di propaganda, la complicità di una stampa interessata al rinfocolare l'orgoglio di un impero decaduto o del partito al potere di turno, sono pochissimi gli scorci di luce negli oltre 30 anni di conflitto.
E non rimane che ripensare a due estratti riportati da Coogan, all'inizio e alla fine del libro, e pensare che if someone gave a damn tanta, tanta sofferenza sarebbe potuta essere evitata.
1969
[...]
Well they failed. They did not completely destroy the school, although they did extensive damage to it. And they did not damage the monastery at all, although they did succeed in getting one fire bomb into our backyard, within two feet of the back door. They did succeed in getting up on a shed, with evil intent of course. But they were repulsed. They failed in their evil design that night. But their failure, my dearest men, was not due to any protection given by the forces of law and order. Let that be recorded. Let it also be recorded that they failed because of the bravery of the local lads who, totally unprepared and ill equipped, and comparatively speaking defenceless, fought against terrible odds, and saved this district from complete destruction.
For, let there be no doubt about it, that was the objective that night, complete destruction. Well, my dearest men, there’s the story of the attack, savage, murderous attack made on the Clonard area during these days of madness. I gave you the story as I saw it because I knew you’d be interested. Now a few more points before I finish. These were terrible days, my dearest men, but some good has already come from these attacks on our communities. [...]
You have the extremists and you have their leaders, and you have the so-called leaders of this little state who have done nothing at all to deal with those people. That is an abuse which we hope will be remedied. What we are aiming at now, my dearest men, is justice. Justice, no more and certainly no less, certainly no less, my dearest men. So I suggest that is one lesson that we must learn from what has happened. We demand justice, we’re not just begging it. We demand it. It’s our right. We demand it and we’ll keep on demanding it until we get it. We don’t ask for any more. Just a fair deal. No discrimination in housing, or voting power, or jobs, or anything else. So I suggest that you pray, my dearest men, that soon we will have a community where everybody, irrespective of his religious belief, or irrespective of his political ideology, will be able to lead a normal life and will not be unjustly discriminated against, as has happened so often in the last fifty years. So pray, my dearest men, all of us pray, that we will have a society, that Catholic and Protestant will have a society where they will live, as they should live, helping each other out. We must live together. It is a mixed society, but that does not mean that we will not demand justice. We pray tonight that God will give us that justice which is our due.
1994
O’Dowd remembered how he felt going into the historic meeting with the Sinn Fein leadership:
I was always impressed with their honesty. Always impressed with their directness. Always impressed that whatever they said, they delivered on. And there were times when it had been very tough. We were really speaking a different language coming from here [New York] in trying to understand where they were coming from.
These were men (and women) who had lived in a situation for 25 years where every day could be their last. They were coming from a place where, whatever demonisation had occurred, they had survived everything. They had survived the second most powerful army in the world throwing everything at them. They had survived total indifference and disdain from Dublin. They had survived large sections of their support being eaten away by the SDLP. They had survived death squads and punishment shootings. Everything…
They were people whom you knew had experienced something, something very deep and a truly revolutionary thing. Their camaraderie was impressive. Of course there were times when you became aware that they were also dangerous people…
May 5, 2020
An exhaustive, and exhausting, history of the Troubles, Coogan breaks down every failed policy proposal from London, Dublin, and Stormont (as well as the ever-changing politicians and where they stand); every time a group splinters off from either side (and who forms these innumerable subgroups, and where they stand on policy and political ideology); and drives by the countless cruelties, bombings and murders committed during the period. When he spends time on an individual or a moment, and when he allows his own feelings and experiences in, it's a great work, but he seems more interested in moving through every political and legal maneuver of the period (and who supported and opposed it, and why it inevitably failed) - he titles one chapter "Activity Without Movement" and that sums up the book for me. This might make Coogan's history a perfect mirror for the era he's covering, really, but it's tough going, especially for a reader who doesn't go in knowing the difference between the UPV, UVF and UDA.
October 12, 2020
Brilliantly researched and written, can get quite bogged down in the minutae of names, dates, etc. at some points its like listening to your Gran tell you about people that you've never met, and have no idea who they are. The overall topic is one that we deal with to this day, and a must read for anyone interested in Irish politics, especially the Troubles, keep with it though, there is a lot of information contained here and it can be easy to lose track, so keep notes while you're reading.
September 20, 2025
An excellent book by an excellent historian. Having lived in a border town throughput the troubles I can vouch that this is a true, unbiased and educational account of this disturbing, confusing and frightening time.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the troubles in Ireland (so many make totally inaccurate judgments from afar) a read of this book will be a real eye opener.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the troubles in Ireland (so many make totally inaccurate judgments from afar) a read of this book will be a real eye opener.
March 20, 2022
"The Troubles" by Tim Pat Coogan is a lengthy history of the conflict in Northern Ireland from the political standpoint. Coogan goes into great detail about the social, economic, and political circumstances leading up to and during the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, and Britain. His depth of detail and personal experiences in reporting really peel back the layers of misinformation and supposition that have clouded the issue for the past three to four decades.
If you are not familiar with the level of violence on both sides or the deep seated cultural causes behind the Troubles, I recommend listening to the Troubles podcast by Oisin Feeney available here: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-tro... to at least familiarize yourself with the breadth of sectarian horrors that took place.
Personally, I have no personal ties to the Troubles or to Ireland, but I became fascinated by the widespread use of censorship in the U.K. when reporting on Northern Ireland. Thinking falsely that only misinformation could be spread through current social media platforms. Coogan does an excellent job of cataloguing how the U.K. media knowingly and willingly suppressed quite a large amount of information especially when dealing with the Republican side. This also lead to how law enforcement furthered the suppression of Irish Nationalists' habeas corpus rights. Come to find out that Irish Catholics were indeed regarded as second class citizens, and not entitled to basic human rights.
Coogan packs a lot of information and detail about all of the political players into this tome.
If you are not familiar with the level of violence on both sides or the deep seated cultural causes behind the Troubles, I recommend listening to the Troubles podcast by Oisin Feeney available here: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-tro... to at least familiarize yourself with the breadth of sectarian horrors that took place.
Personally, I have no personal ties to the Troubles or to Ireland, but I became fascinated by the widespread use of censorship in the U.K. when reporting on Northern Ireland. Thinking falsely that only misinformation could be spread through current social media platforms. Coogan does an excellent job of cataloguing how the U.K. media knowingly and willingly suppressed quite a large amount of information especially when dealing with the Republican side. This also lead to how law enforcement furthered the suppression of Irish Nationalists' habeas corpus rights. Come to find out that Irish Catholics were indeed regarded as second class citizens, and not entitled to basic human rights.
Coogan packs a lot of information and detail about all of the political players into this tome.
January 20, 2021
Finished this and Coogan’s book on the IRA as part of an overview into the fascinating conflict in Northern Ireland. The blurb at the back of my edition simply states that this book is “the standard reference work on the subject,” and it’s easy to understand why.
Coogan reported on the Troubles for more than 30 years by the time this book came out, and knows the principal actors in the conflict in deep detail. That nuanced understanding and background is readily apparent, and rewarding.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the eye for relevant detail or a writing style that can keep a reader (or at least one with a twitter-addled brain like mine) engaged over the long haul. I wouldn’t recommend this or his work on the IRA to someone unfamiliar with the conflict as a first-read.
That being said, specific chapters, namely ch. 2, 9, 10, and 11 are illuminating on their own, and give insight not just into the conflict itself but also how a modern post-war conflict worked in the mid and late 20th century. I’m glad that his optimism was ultimately rewarded, that Sinn Fein and the IRA ultimately won, and are now, completely unexpectedly, further along the road to a United Ireland than Adams and McGuinness had any right to imagine.
Coogan reported on the Troubles for more than 30 years by the time this book came out, and knows the principal actors in the conflict in deep detail. That nuanced understanding and background is readily apparent, and rewarding.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the eye for relevant detail or a writing style that can keep a reader (or at least one with a twitter-addled brain like mine) engaged over the long haul. I wouldn’t recommend this or his work on the IRA to someone unfamiliar with the conflict as a first-read.
That being said, specific chapters, namely ch. 2, 9, 10, and 11 are illuminating on their own, and give insight not just into the conflict itself but also how a modern post-war conflict worked in the mid and late 20th century. I’m glad that his optimism was ultimately rewarded, that Sinn Fein and the IRA ultimately won, and are now, completely unexpectedly, further along the road to a United Ireland than Adams and McGuinness had any right to imagine.
February 3, 2019
This book is a must read for understanding the issues around why there is no peace in Northern Island and why Brexit is the way to going back to the sectarian violence that most everyone worked to prevent. The IRA did stand down as did the Loyalist paramilitaries. Coogan takes us through the causes of violence and the machinations of Great Britain on the Irish Question. The amount of information within the book is detail intensive, given a time stamp and the author reminds the reader periodically of the cause/effect of the activities. The author has his biases and the writing may seem folksy at times but overall, it was hard for me to find fault with this essay. I will not look at Ireland and the Six Counties in the same way after this experience.
June 11, 2023
Tim Pat Coogan did monumental work in trying to make some sense of nearly 40 years of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland and beyond. From an outsider’s point of view, one wants to borrow from Rodney King and ask, “Can’t we all just get along?” Oh, that it were that simple.
I found the writing compelling and informative but from a California perspective this was not an easy read - with many organizations titled with Irish words and scores represented by acronyms, it’s hard to keep the players straight without a scorecard.
But honestly, the situation with all its nuances is so complex and sometime contradictory that no honest, complete effort to explain it would be deemed an easy read.
An interested, patient reader will gain a lot of insight from this book.
I found the writing compelling and informative but from a California perspective this was not an easy read - with many organizations titled with Irish words and scores represented by acronyms, it’s hard to keep the players straight without a scorecard.
But honestly, the situation with all its nuances is so complex and sometime contradictory that no honest, complete effort to explain it would be deemed an easy read.
An interested, patient reader will gain a lot of insight from this book.
July 3, 2017
A bit disappointed in the way this one is constructed, but that admittedly has a lot to do with my desire for a thorough primer on the events of this strangely staggered civil war, rather than an exhaustive, blow-by-blow rundown of details predicated on an odd selection of thematic cross-currents. Unremittingly thorough, at least, although I guess I’m also a tad spoiled by the narrativizing efforts of many contemporary history tomes. Often reminded me of Alan Clarke’s "Elephant", in which the tit-for-tat revanchism between IRA and UDF adherents is boiled down to an unintelligible series of formulaically constructed, pointlessly conducted murder tableaux.
March 17, 2022
excellent overview
A History written by a man who was part of shaping that very history. Excellent resource for understanding the issues, and the considerable number of factions involved. A lot of complexity to the subject, but the writing style and approach helps considerably to feel the historic flow and track the progression.
The reader needs to know there is definitely a sympathetic slant towards the catholic/ republican view, but not to the point of being unfair to the truth about all sides.
Have always loved the author’s writings, to help illuminate those of us on the outside looking in.
A History written by a man who was part of shaping that very history. Excellent resource for understanding the issues, and the considerable number of factions involved. A lot of complexity to the subject, but the writing style and approach helps considerably to feel the historic flow and track the progression.
The reader needs to know there is definitely a sympathetic slant towards the catholic/ republican view, but not to the point of being unfair to the truth about all sides.
Have always loved the author’s writings, to help illuminate those of us on the outside looking in.
June 21, 2024
I read this book in anticipation of my upcoming vacation to Ireland in Northern Ireland. It was a good, if difficult, read. It is very granular in its telling of The Troubles, with many more details than the vast majority of readers interested in the era, including myself, would ever need. However, I came away with as thorough an understanding of the conflict as anyone who did not live through it could have so overall I'm very happy I read the book.
September 3, 2023
Overall this is a good book, but it feels like Coogan tries too much information, to the point of getting into the weeds, which leads to long, dry, and boring chapters. It was a slog to get through the final chapter, which was 100 pages itself. It felt like the same information was being recycled at times.
December 20, 2025
A great balanced account of the Troubles from a contemporary observer who's spoken to all the main protagonists. The edition I read ended shortly before the Good Friday agreement, so although it ends sceptically, with hindsight we can see that actually the seeds of hope Coogan foresaw played out successfully.
July 4, 2018
Very detailed story of the Troubles from beginning to the final stages of negotiations. Sadly, due to the publishing date, the Good Friday agreement is not discussed. It's my second Coogan book and it won't be the last; he's a fine writer who was in the middle of the action.
November 28, 2020
This book could have been better. Mr. Coogan has trouble seeing the trees versus keeping his main narrative flow going. Also the Epilogue was hideously long. Might as well have just called it another chapter.
March 18, 2023
Tough read. This is a research panorama. It’s challenging to track team members across multiple organizations, over a 25 year time span. The book clearly portrays the incredible complexity of finding a solution to the Irish Troubles, if there is one to be found.
February 23, 2018
Very detailed. Intro gives history of all of Ireland's 'wars'.
Read
July 16, 2018I thorough and very detailed history of the Irish Troubles 1966 to 1996. However, it is a difficult read and not for the casual reader looking for a brief synopsis of the Troubles.
May 20, 2019
Well researched
As usual with Tim Pat Coogan the book is very Erik researched and set out. Well worth the read and thoroughly enjoyable.
As usual with Tim Pat Coogan the book is very Erik researched and set out. Well worth the read and thoroughly enjoyable.
Read
August 21, 2019TOO DETAILED - NOT VERY INTERESTING
March 24, 2020
Great read, but the version I read finished before the Good Friday agreement.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2020
Essential reading for anyone interested in Irish history.
May 10, 2021
This was an insightful book about The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
February 13, 2023
really thorough primer on the time period, looking forward to rounding out my understanding through a few other pieces dealing with Ireland
October 30, 2024
Coogan I love ya but sometimes I need to come up for a breath in what is essentially a book-length newspaper article. Always a wealth of information, sometimes too much.
May 15, 2025
If you want to read a very detailed book about the Troubles this is the one. However, this is a long very academic book so you will need perseverance
Read
June 14, 2025forgot i read this for an essay lol
July 22, 2025
This book is well researched and structured in a way that helps the trader's understanding. I was surprised to learn that the epilog did not cover the ultimate resolution.
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