Bear in Mind These Dead
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Bear in Mind These Dead for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
The most powerful and moving history book of the year.
Product Description
Nearly 4,000 people were killed over the thirty or so years of the Northern Irish Troubles. And the killings were as intimate as they were brutal. Neighbours murdered neighbours. Susan McKay's book explores the difficult legacy of this conflict for families, friends and communities. By interviewing those who loved the missing and the dead, as well as some who narrowly survived, McKay gives a voice to those who are too often overlooked in the political histories. Old enemies are now in government together in Belfast, and the killing has all but stopped, but peace can only endure if the dead can finally be laid to rest. Bear in Mind These Dead is a moving and important contribution to that process.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having lived through the times described in this book and having read many books written about them I have read this book from cover to cover over a one day period. It was totally engrossing, deeply moving and tremendously informative. It honed in on individual stories setting them against the backdrop of the troubled times. I consider myself to have a good memory and to have been well informed of what was taking place but I was moved to tears by stories which I had not heard or had simply skipped over when faced with a torrent of bad news. This brought us up to date, enabling anyone to see that few people here have been untouched by our past and yet we look forward with hope to the future. An excellent piece of work showing great respect without fear or favour to those who have suffered. Unlike the previous reviewer I feel that references to poetry positively enhance the book.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Susan McKay, the journalist who previously brought us "Northern Protestants" - a no-holds barred account of the bitterness of extremists within her own community - returns to the topic of Northern Ireland's Troubles with a very thought-provoking assessment of the impact of violence on the lives of ordinary people. This is an area where it would be easy for an author to fall into the traps of sensationalism or mawkishness, but McKay manages to treat her subjects with care and respect, and really brings to life the hurt and pain which persist after nearly 40 years in some cases. It's a deeply moving account which possesses the power to shock, even with the passage of time. My only quibble is that McKay keeps straying off her main subject and quoting poets and playwrights who have written about the Troubles - my feeling was that these sections (mostly towards the end of the 400-page book) are a bit of a distraction and are too excessive. But that aside, it's still a very powerful book which deserves to be read, if only as a reminder of the lasting (and often not very visible) impact of extremist violence.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an alternative history - one recounted from the perspectives of those who have lost loved ones killed in the conflict. The dead include, as well as the numerous civilians, paramilitaries from both sides and members of the security forces and British army. This book tells the story of their deaths and also the loss, the heartbreak and the suffering of their family and friends. Later in the book the author recounts the myriad long-term responses to grief and loss on the part of the victims, how they remember and commemorate, and face (or don't face) the killers of their loved ones. There are many stories of breakdowns, heart attacks and suicides together with valiant struggles to cope with loss, and many tales of bitterness overcome by humanity.
All the stories are told with an elegant simplicity and a deep empathy for the plight of those suffering that sublimely transcends sectarian and other barriers and divides. And the stark realities portrayed provide a massive unspoken commentary on issues of justice. Sometimes the author is quite Hemingwayesque (the young, inspired 'In Our Time' Hemingway that is) in this respect. For example, with regard to a young, pregnant woman, mother of a 2-year-old whose husband has just been killed by loyalist paramilitaries: "when it came to the compensation hearing, Rosaleen had got very little. The judge told her she was a young attractive woman and he was sure she would marry again."
The author confronts issues of justice more directly in the second part of the book, documenting the search for truth of many victims and others working on their behalf in the face of obstruction, deception and cover-ups (on the part of all sides) and a lot of political posturing (again on the part of all sides). No organisation escapes the light of clarity of this book, whether British, loyalist or republican. In this book the truth of the dictum "Truth recovery exposes the myth of blamenessness" is clearly evident. Rather, in this history the empty rhetoric of the warmongers forms part of a shadowy backdrop against which the fragility of the human body and mind stand out in relief, and centre stage belongs to the nobility of human suffering and the beauty of humanity displayed by ordinary women and men.
All the stories are told with an elegant simplicity and a deep empathy for the plight of those suffering that sublimely transcends sectarian and other barriers and divides. And the stark realities portrayed provide a massive unspoken commentary on issues of justice. Sometimes the author is quite Hemingwayesque (the young, inspired 'In Our Time' Hemingway that is) in this respect. For example, with regard to a young, pregnant woman, mother of a 2-year-old whose husband has just been killed by loyalist paramilitaries: "when it came to the compensation hearing, Rosaleen had got very little. The judge told her she was a young attractive woman and he was sure she would marry again."
The author confronts issues of justice more directly in the second part of the book, documenting the search for truth of many victims and others working on their behalf in the face of obstruction, deception and cover-ups (on the part of all sides) and a lot of political posturing (again on the part of all sides). No organisation escapes the light of clarity of this book, whether British, loyalist or republican. In this book the truth of the dictum "Truth recovery exposes the myth of blamenessness" is clearly evident. Rather, in this history the empty rhetoric of the warmongers forms part of a shadowy backdrop against which the fragility of the human body and mind stand out in relief, and centre stage belongs to the nobility of human suffering and the beauty of humanity displayed by ordinary women and men.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
must Read
Born and bred in Belfast myself, I have read many books on the 'troubles'. This is a 'must read' for anyone who wants to understand what everyday life was (and still is) like for... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Loraine Connor
REMEMBRANCE
A well written and thoughtful book on the tragedy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Published on 29 May 2009 by John Gallagher
Transcending Politics
This book is part of a voyage of discovery for me. My wife complains that my politics are too black and white. Read more
Published on 7 April 2009 by M. Faver
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Ireland
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
