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Title: God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism by Martin Dillon ISBN: 0-415-92060-4 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: March, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: OK
Comment: Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien has described the author, Martin Dillon, as 'the greatest living authority on Irish terrorism'. If he ever was, he has since lost his touch. His previous works have been well-received, particularly The Shankill Butchers, Stone Cold and Killer in Clowntown. Since leaving Ulster, however, he seems to have lost his way. His last book on the Provisional IRA, The Enemy Within, was inferior sensationalist stuff.In God and the Gun, Dillon claims to look at the role of the Church and 'Irish terrorism'. In this task he fails utterly. This is not to say that the book is uninteresting. Despite its many faults, and elementary errors of fact, it is - in parts - a gripping read.The conflict in Ulster has been primarily one of nationality but it is impossible to ignore its 'religious' dimension. Ulsterfolk have not been fighting a theological battle but everyone's religious upbringing and background colours their outlook on the situation. Many of the main paramilitary players in both republican and loyalist groups are regular worshippers - 'good Christians' despite having committed some horrendous atrocities over the past thirty years. Dillon has met and interviewed notable Protestant and Catholic paramilitary activists and former activists to try and understand how the manage to reconcile killing with their Christian convictions. Most fascinating was the testimony of Billy Wright who went on to form the Loyalist Volunteer Force splinter group. Billy Wright was later to die in Long Kesh prison at the hands of INLA fellow-prisoners.Wright has been involved with the Young Citizen Volunteers as a teenager. He was imprisoned on arms and hijacking charges in 1977 and soon after his release was again held in custody on the testimony of the 'supergrass' Clifford McKeown. During his time in prison, he began to read the Bible and made a 'commitment to Christ' after his release in 1983. This caused him to abandon his terrorist affiliations. However, the 'act of treachery' that brought in the Hillsborough Pact of November 1985 called him back to arms. Wright took the militarist view that constitutional politics was a waste of time - 'if I was to be involved in politics, in a sense it would be from a paramilitary prospectus. There's absolutely no way one could walk with Christ and align oneself to paramilitary activity.' Despite his abandonment of his 'walk with Christ', he was deeply imbued with a fundamentalist Protestant Christian outlook but willing to lose his personal faith and his eternal soul in order to fight for his beliefs in Faith, Fatherland and Family. Wright was a complex character and Dillon is at his best when he lets Wright speak for himself and spares the reader his own speculations and opinions.It is interesting to note that Protestant terrorists seem to feel more guilt than their Catholic counterparts. UFF and UVF men often became evangelical Christians when give time to reflect in prison. On the other hand, their Catholic counterparts became more ideologically committed republicans with no apparent sense of guilt for their acts of violence. There must be some deep theological or cultural significance here, but Dillon leaves this avenue largely unexplored. Someone else will have to do that job sometime as this book falls short of the task.
Rating: 5
Summary: Infinite Loop
Comment: Mr. Martin Dillon brings the history of the Irish "Troubles" as close as he can without the reader actually participating with him in his interviews. The interviews he shares, together with the balanced personal perspective he offers, presents the reader with one of the clearer explanations of the conflict, the participants, and their motives, that I have read. This book is of manageable length, for more detailed documentation of the various political groups and their leaders; Mr. Dillon's friend Mr. Timothy Patrick Coogan is the definitive reference.
The most unusual aspect of the book were interviews he conducted with Catholic Priests, and the role they are at times forced, at gunpoint, under threat of death, to perform. There will be a knock at the door; they will then be taken to a victim who has usually been brutalized, and then given a few minutes to hear the man's final words prior to his being executed. Add to this that there are times the victims are members of the Priest's Church, and you have both a personal and an ecclesiastical torture for these Priests. Ministers of the Protestant Faith, who attempt to bring sanity to these conflicts, are relocated out of Ireland to stop their interference and protect their safety.
On the other end of the spectrum there are clergy on both sides whose conduct disqualifies them from their roles as representatives of the Church, and places them in the same column as the terrorists they support/protect.
When the results of violence are shown in the news, the tendency is often to dehumanize the individuals who perpetrate such violence. Mr. Dillon shows that on either side of the conflict there are those that are truly depraved, they are killers, and lovers of violence that would conduct themselves as they do despite their location.
He also interviews men and woman who are extremely articulate, who know exactly what they do and why. They do not just spout partisan rhetoric. It was through these interviews I gained a better understanding of the motivation of some of the people involved. The problems that face Ireland are much more complex than the news commentators would have you believe. The conflict is not just about religion, despite the slogan of "For God And Ulster". And there are not 2 groups that oppose one another, but factions within factions, often at odds with those who would appear to be on the same side. There are even groups assembled entirely of women, that I had never read of before.
One book cannot explain the incredibly complex issues that catalyze and nurture the violence in Ireland. Mr. Dillon does do are remarkably good job in a relatively brief book that gives the reader a good grounding in the issues, the combatants and their complaints. I came away from this book understanding that if nothing else, the conflict is infinitely more complex than usually portrayed, and that there are many groups portrayed as fighting on the same side, when in fact they have as much affection for one another as they do for their alleged common enemy.
The military forces are not exempt for behavior that is appalling to any true military unit's functioning, and the complicity of those that sanction their behavior is repulsive as well. The book will not answer every question you may have; it will give you a great deal of information that may lead you to further study of the topic.
A very well written investigative book, by a man who literally put his life at risk to bring this work, and others he has done to readers.
Rating: 5
Summary: Chilling, balanced and gritty.
Comment: As a television correspondent traveling to Northern Ireland just before marching season, I covered several references. I used "God and the Gun" as the primary source for my trip. Only someone as thorough a journalist as Martin Dillon could direct readers into one of the world's most lasting, if not bizarre, geopolitical campaigns of terror draped in religion. It's in straightforward, sometimes blunt language that stirs up your stomach. Because of the real fear and disturbing acts of premeditated violence on the Emerald Isle, "God and the Gun" is similar to a nightly national newscast in the U.S., except there are no pictures for the horrifying words from the interviews and accounts contained within. Much like Thomas L. Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem," Martin Dillon connects historical occurrences to recent outbreaks of destruction, thuggery and wanton killings. For the casual observer, reporter or person of faith who wants a significant study of flashpoints for trouble, "God and the Gun" is a work to read. It has stories from an author who has lived amidst the day-to-day tensions for 18 years. His words will leave you wanting to tell someome else what you discovered about The Troubles. "God and the Gun" takes you where no movie has on the subject of Northern Ireland -- into the minds, hearts and deeds of clergy and lay people. This is what the Irish have known for centuries: religion and politics are a volatile combination.
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Title: The Dirty War by Martin Dillon ISBN: 041592281X Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $31.95 |
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Title: Rebel Hearts : Journeys Within the IRA's Soul by Kevin Toolis ISBN: 0312156324 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 15 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Bandit Country by Toby Harnden ISBN: 0340717378 Publisher: Trafalgar Square Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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