Blanketmen: An Untold Story of the H-block Hunger Strike

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In an attempt to create an atmosphere conductive to a settlement and to take pressure off the British administration, the IRA ceased its attacks on prison officials. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

One of the "Blanketmen," he took part in the dirty protests that led to the hunger strikes of the early 1980s. I just did not particularly want to go along for the ride; I just could not agree to get down and dirty with him and his compatriots.Bobby Sands himself publicly expressed satisfaction at the new era of cooperation inside the jail, unprecedented since the British government embarked upon its policy of criminalisation in March 1976. To cut a long story short, I got the book, entitled Greed, finished at the end of 2013 and my agent, Jonathan Williams, sent it off to London publishers. If a British government experienced such a long and persistent resistance to a domestic policy in England then that policy would almost certainly be changed. But no so in Ireland where its traditional racist attitude blinds its judgement to reason and persuasion. Primarily, the objective was to isolate those engaged in the resistance struggle from their support and to ‘normalise’ life in the Six-County state.

All the document’s phrases about the situation not begin static; work not being interpreted narrowly and the prison regime being progressive, humane and flexible were soon shown not to be worth the paper they were written on. In the draft that had been rejected by the London publishers, Ructions had been shot dead at the end of the book). It's obvious that the narrator knew nothing about the situation or he would not have mispronounced almost every name. I would have also appreciated a little more context/explanation around some events just to better understand what was happening.Richard O'Rawe brings to the table in this book, the same truth and strength he brings to the table in his everyday life. This inside account of the 1981 hunger strikes by one of the IRA prisoners’ leaders is without doubt the most significant; it will force a complete reassessment of this pivotal epsode in modern Irish History.