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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Solo Walker
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I urge you to suspend judgement & read this lucid and honest account of the events that took place inside the H-Blocks. The author tells his story with wry humour starting with how he ended up inside after a bodged up bank robbery for the IRA. He explains the events that led to the dirty protest - where prisoners smeared excrement over their cell walls - and on ultimately to the hunger strike.
He tells of the pressure he felt seeing his mates slowly starving themselves to death to uphold their principles and the fight for their right to political status. Fresh insights are given into the machinations of the republican leadership for which the author is refreshingly open and critical.
O'Rawes book shines with a masculine humanity and camaradarie, without a trace of self pity, that cannot be beaten even in the most desperate of circumstances.
By any standards this is a well written and important memoir.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By helen
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
To get the chance to read the inside story of the hunger strikers in H-Block is definitely fascinating. Down to the last detail of their banter, their despair, the interaction between the prisoners, and the difficult situation of explaining their motives to even close relatives - it's all there in this fascinating account.
However, O'Rawe also raises the controversial subject of whether the hunger strike could possibly have been brought to an earlier end if the Army Council had been preapred to do so. This difficult issue has been extensively discussed, and many people, most notably Danny Morrison, have contradicted O'Rawe's assessment.
Of course, the "common reader" will not be able to decide where the truth ultimately lies. One thing is for sure, though, O'Rawe's account is honest, direct and - by raising that most difficult issue - deeply disturbing.
However, O'Rawe also raises the controversial subject of whether the hunger strike could possibly have been brought to an earlier end if the Army Council had been preapred to do so. This difficult issue has been extensively discussed, and many people, most notably Danny Morrison, have contradicted O'Rawe's assessment.
Of course, the "common reader" will not be able to decide where the truth ultimately lies. One thing is for sure, though, O'Rawe's account is honest, direct and - by raising that most difficult issue - deeply disturbing.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By brownie
Format:Paperback
first of all i would say that richard o`rawe has made a very brave decision to tell the truth about a a period of time that still remains a republican cornerstone in the recent troubles in ulster. to have the courage to write this book and take on sinn fein and other former comrades while still living in west belfast must have been a really hard decision to make and he deserves the highest credit for doing so.
having read his follow up book AFTERLIVES and reading how he has been vindicated by former blanketmen in the h blocks during the same period as blanketmen covers i have no doubt that this book is the real truth about what happened during the second hunger strike and how the last five hunger strikers died for nothing else but for the five that went before them and the rise of sinn fein in politics in ulster.
the recent disclosure of offical goverment papers has also lent great weight to o`rawes book and as a loyalist from west belfast who lived through this period i know what personnal courage it must have taken him to write this book and to let the world know the real truth about these brave mens death
having read his follow up book AFTERLIVES and reading how he has been vindicated by former blanketmen in the h blocks during the same period as blanketmen covers i have no doubt that this book is the real truth about what happened during the second hunger strike and how the last five hunger strikers died for nothing else but for the five that went before them and the rise of sinn fein in politics in ulster.
the recent disclosure of offical goverment papers has also lent great weight to o`rawes book and as a loyalist from west belfast who lived through this period i know what personnal courage it must have taken him to write this book and to let the world know the real truth about these brave mens death
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
This takes us back to the days of the late 1970's and 1980's when England tried to criminalize the Irish Republican P.O.W.'S and failed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dancer.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
I have read many many books about the troubles and the hunger strikes and this is one of the better ones. It is very easy to read and keeps your attention. Read more
Published 9 months ago by The Python
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great insight into the H-Block struggle
This book provides a fantastic insight into the H-Block struggle. The author provides his own account of his experiences inside the Maze. Read more
Published 10 months ago by owm22
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good book
An easy to read first hand inside account of the background to the 1981 hunger strikes in which ten men died, a must for anybody interested in Irish politics and the republican... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Larry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Irish Republicanism Since 1981
This is one of the best books to be written about the 1981 Hunger Strikes and the after effects that we are beginning to feel only now, almost 30 years later. Read more
Published on 2 Nov 2010 by Irish Historian
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read - Recommended
Together with Before the Dawn and Cage 11 The Blanket Men is equally as compulsive.
It gave me the understanding of what went on in relation to to the hunger strikers as... Read more
It gave me the understanding of what went on in relation to to the hunger strikers as... Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2009 by Mrs. M. A. Phelan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blanketmen and Hunger Strikers: the naked truth.
I never cease to be amazed at the quality of text produced by those who have in the past been branded as 'mindless criminals' by the British State. Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2005 by marcella 1981
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