Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children Who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles [Hardcover]

Having read the petty criticism of the reviewer who awarded this important, brilliant book only one star, I felt compelled to write and state that it is my belief that Lost Lives is perhaps the only truly essential book to have been published on the last tragic 30 years of the Northern Ireland troubles.

The authors of this mighty tome deserve all the praise that they have already received, and then some. Yes, there are inaccuracies and some mistakes, many of which have been corrected in ongoing editions, but this is the first (and only) book to date that has put the focus fairly and squarely on the human cost of that era from which we are all now, hopefully, trying to move on from.

My guess is that our one-star contributor has an axe to grind or is just plain jealous of the achievement displayed in this book but, in the face of the recent onslaught of publications about failed politicians, so-called major scandals and revelations of the Troubles, and quick profiteering from these tragic years by greedy publishers, Lost Lives remains the only book worth bothering with.

This book is an extremely compelling work, dispassionate but all the more sad because of it. As I read through it, I became very sad - reading how many people I knew met their violent death. It serves as a reminder to all that we must find a way forward by learning from the mistakes of the past. Over 3600 of them.
The one dissapointment in the work is that it excludes, on purpose, the names of those convicted of the murders. The reason given for this is so as not to give rise to vengeance but surely those seeking vengeance for the murder of a loved one or friend would know the names of those convicted.
I would recommend this book to anyone from the province and to people elsewhere - so that you may learn from our mistakes too.

I bought this book several years ago, and it's now worn and well read. It's probably the most oft-used book of my 3,500 plus volumes.
I spent much of the 1970's in the Province, but had managed to suppress most of those terrible days (there are many thousands of us). Then I found myself alone, and those memories came flooding back. One of the biggest problems was that although I could remember the violence, the deaths, the horrific injuries, and the hate, I couldn't put names to faces. I may have picked up the pieces, or stood over the victims, but I usually didn't know who they were.

Thanks to this book, I now do, and to say it helped me would be an understatement.

Yes, there are mistakes, but the authors acknowledge this and ask readers to contact them with any corrections (I have).
Mistakes are inevitable in a work of this kind. It is the first, and will probably be the last of it's kind, and researching the deaths of every victim of 'The Troubles' was a monumental task. The authors also state that in many cases the information was scant, conflicting, or biased. They didn't add anything, but if the information came from an obviously biased source, they say so (although more diplomatically). This leaves the reader with the responsibility of apportioning blame where there are conflicting versions.
That is a good thing - rival factions were masters of spin (they still are) and by printing the facts the authors expose what was also a propaganda war. The media took sides too, which didn't help.
What the reader will see is the brutality of terrorism. I don't know what else to call it - in my world 'terrorism' is the deliberate targeting of innocent men, women, and worst of all, children, by armed, non governmental groups (there are other names for governments that target civilians).
And target them they did.

The statistics in this case reveal the truth : Although Republicans and Loyalists attempted to gain the moral high ground, they murdered 2,037 innocents, over half of them during the years 1971 - 76. 354 military personnel and 91 police officers died during the same period.
By way of contrast, 342 UK troops have died as the result of enemy action in Afghanistan in ten years. It was far worse than most people realise.

They also killed over 1,000 members of the security forces. Not 'innocents', but most of the attacks were cowardly - booby-traps - IED's (the technology and tactics used by the Taleban today are identical)- or murdering off duty personnel while they were cleaning the car, mowing the lawn, or taking their children to school.

The tables at the end of the book reveal the reality of the 'Freedom Fighter' (I see that Amazon has 'Freedom Fighters' listed as a tag for this book) or the 'Defender'.

What will surprise most readers is the TOTAL number killed (yes, some were murdered) by the security forces : 367.

Of that 367, 138 were innocents (the rest were confirmed as terrorists by their own organisations), and a significant number of that 138 were killed in traffic or other accidents.

Compare that 138 with 2,087. Who were the real bad guys ?

The tables are detailed, giving the reader an opportunity to establish how many innocent Catholics or Protestants were murdered by those who claimed to be defending them - PIRA, UDA, INLA, UFF, OIRA UVF, and a few more splinter groups. Other faiths (and none) too. Asians who ran the snack bars in every barracks were labelled as 'SAS' and gunned down, as were those locals who delivered the milk or collected the rubbish.
It's shocking, and shows that the 'history', still being churned out by Republican and Loyalist leaders and politicians, is myth. At best.

This book doesn't tell the whole story. To do that would take another twenty equally large volumes at least. Nor does it look at the wounded - the maimed, the disfigured, those who were/are scarred both physically and mentally - or the effects those horrors have on families or witnesses. It's widely accepted that for every death, there are between 8 and 10 who were maimed, scarred, or injured. And that's just the physical, recorded injuries.

If the same casualty rate was imposed on the rest of the UK, about 150,000 would have died, with around a million seriously injured.
During WWII, civilian deaths in the UK totalled 67,000.

In July 1972 I, along with others, discovered the bodies of 27 year old Rose McCartney and her boyfriend. They'd been 'executed' by Loyalist terrorists. They had no links to any organisation. I didn't know who they were, but their faces haunted me for 35 years.
Thanks to this book, I know who they were. She was one of the most beautiful voices I'd ever heard, singing in a pub a few days earlier (I couldn't see her). I also now know who murdered her and her boyfriend, the pathetic reasons they used to justify the barbarity, and what happened to them. Yet these monsters and hundreds like them are lauded as heroes by many.

'Lost Lives' tells the truth, and apologists for the violence will hate it. Decent people will applaud it.

We should never forget the victims, and who was responsible.