Terror In Ireland: The Heritage of Hate

by Edgar O'Ballance

Traces the history of the struggles of the Irish from the time of Brian Boru, focusing particularly on contemporary terrorism in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic and offering possible solutions

Genres: Ireland, History, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Major Edgar O'Ballance was a British military journalist, researcher, defence commentator and academic lecturer specialising in international relations and defence problems.

He was emergency commissioned a Second Lieutenant from Sergeant in the Sherwood Foresters on 19 January 1941. As a temporary Major he was mentioned in dispatches for service in Palestine between 27 March and 30 June 1948.

He served in the army until 1948.

In April 1953 he was commissioned into the Territorial Army as a Captain, serving with the Sherwood Foresters. He was promoted Major in March 1955. In June 1963 he transferred from the Sherwood Foresters to the General List. In July 1965 he was awarded the Territorial Efficiency Decoration.

In 1968 he transferred from the General List (Territorial Army) to the General List (Regular Army Reserve of Officers) and having achieved the age limit on 17 July 1968 (his 50th birthday) retired retaining the rank of Major.

He worked as a journalist for a US Wire Agency from 1948 to 1962, and was thereafter a freelance journalist. He covered over twenty wars and insurgencies and wrote extensively on international relations, defence and strategic problems. He was a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Chairman of the London-based Military Commentators' Circle. He wrote many articles for military journals and was the author of over forty books.

Reviews

[Dave Beeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in depth look at the troubles in Ireland taken in chronological order from the eleventh century to 1979. Spends a lot of time on the behind the scenes political going on's with the Irish Republic, England, Northern Ireland, the IRA, the Provisional IRA, and the alphabet soup of all the Catholic and Protestant groups involved. Looks at all the major players in detail.

[Liam · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Terror In Ireland: The Heritage of Hate' is probably not Mr. O'Ballance's best work; his actual writing was up to his usual high standard, but unfortunately there are some problems with the content. It is possible that Mr. O'Ballance had a political axe to grind, but it appears more likely to me that the difficulty here was inadequate research exacerbated by reliance on slanted and biased sources. Either way, the result is a seriously flawed book with multiple errors and/or distortions of fact. It is, just barely, worth reading; however I would suggest that anyone without previous in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Irish situation would undoubtedly be better served by reading a different work.