Hope And History: Making Peace in Ireland

by Gerry Adams

The unique inside story of one of the most controversial public figures, Gerry Adams here reveals the truth behind the headlines of how the peace process was begun and how it was brought to fruition. Looking at covert talks between Republicans and the British government, the Irish-American role and meetings in the White House, the emergence of dissidents within the Republican movement, the breakdown of the first IRA cessation and the final negotiations, this is perhaps the single most important book yet to be published on the question of Northern Ireland.

Genres: Politics, History, Ireland, Irish Literature, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Gerard "Gerry" Adams, MLA, MP (Irish: Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician and abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the political party at the top of the latest North of Ireland election polls amidst a three-way split in the traditionally dominant unionist vote. Sinn Féin is the second largest party in the Northern Assembly.

From the late 1980s onwards, Adams has been an important figure in Ireland's peace process, initially following contact by the then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader John Hume and subsequently with the Irish and British governments and then other parties. In 2005, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) indicated that its armed campaign was over and that it is now exclusively committed to democratic politics. Under Adams, Sinn Féin changed its traditional policy of abstentionism towards Oireachtas Éireann, the parliament of Ireland, in 1986 and later took seats in the power-sharing Northern Assembly. However, Sinn Féin retains a policy of abstentionism towards the Westminster Parliament.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was more inclined to read "A Farther Shore. . ." To me, the books overlap. . .

[Alex Kwong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wordy as fuck lol. Lots of really mundane stuff about precisely who was in the room on what day saying which and what. Still a good book to learn the lay of the IreLAND.