Before the Dawn: An Autobiography [Paperback]

Gerry Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 1998

Gerry Adams has been at the forefront of Northern Ireland's struggle for nearly three decades, taking leadership positions and guiding his country in negotiating peace talks with England for the first time in their tumultuous history. Now, in Before the Dawn, Adams recounts his years growing up in the Irish countryside and, with startling detail, his early involvement in the IRA.Adams includes engaging stories of his boyhood and never-before-told family tales. His description of his critical role in Northern Ireland's violent and dramatic revolutionary period will haunt and intrigue readers. Ireland instills the strongest of emotions in her offspring, and Adams is no exception. Lyrical and riveting, Before the Dawn, explores the origins of one of this century's most compelling men.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Closing in 1981 with the deaths of ten Irish Republican Army hunger strikers in Long Kesh prison, the author chronicles the years before he became president of Sinn Fein, the I.R.A.'s political wing. Wrenching accounts of the hunger strike and of the 1969 riots in Northern Ireland that turned a 20-year-old bartender into an activist are counterbalanced by the warmth with which Adams portrays his family and comrades, the atmospheric precision with which he evokes the sights and sounds of his West Belfast community. Not the whole truth by any means, but a compelling partisan document. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The controversial Sinn Fein leader comes clean in this autobiography.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (May 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688161014
• ISBN-13: 978-0688161019
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,987,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good History Lesson, April 20, 2000

By 

Stephen Donnolly (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before the Dawn: An Autobiography (Paperback)

Gerry Adams has set out to write an autobiography. In the process, he has accomplished also writing a history book. This book demonstrates and details the life of a man who questions the systems justices and dares to speak out against those who would oppress his people. The life he has described (being on the run, being locked up in the Kesh, etc) could be used to describe the lives of the countless dissidents who take a stand for nationalism everyday. As an Irishman who does not support Sinn Fein (Adams' Political Party) or the so called Belfast Agreement, I still have respect for the accomplishments Adams made to the movement in the important 1969-1996 years. To those who would label the likes of Adams a terrorist, I remind them that he is no more a terrorist than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson would have been during the American Revolution for Independence. It has been said, "One man's terrorist, is another man's freedom fighter." Only history will show which he will be remembered for.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Biased? Of course. A good read? Definitely., October 25, 1999

By 

Brendon M. Macaraeg (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before the Dawn: An Autobiography (Paperback)

It's hard to write a review of this book without taking sides. When I got back from a trip to Ireland this past August (I stayed in County Tyrone in the North with relatives of my mom's), I started to read a lot about the politics of the North. This was one of the books I read. "Before the Dawn" is a relatively quick read, but it will not provide one with the overall historical background behind the Troubles (the conflict goes back hundreds of years starting with the Potato Famine of 1845-49, and even earlier than that). However, Adams does describe in great detail the British Army raids during times of Internment, the torture that internees had to endure (how would you like it if someone blindfolded you, made you walk across glass and nails and such while beating you and then put you on a helicopter, and then pushed you off, not knowing if you were a mere 8 feet off the ground or several hundered?). For a more balanced view of the Troubles, try reading John Conroy's "Belfast Diary". Conroy is an American journalist who spent 1977-82 in West Belfast. It's also a very gritty, steet-level account. As for the IRA's kneecappings, it should be noted that most locals did approve of them, because Catholics felt they couln't go to the British RUC.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Irish hero, July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Before the Dawn: An Autobiography (Paperback)

Gerry Adams is a national hero to my people and this book is very accurate of the situation in my island. In response to the comments of fragmeister from Bournemouth, I think he is a typical ignorant English man, analysing the situation from a distance and making rash statements. I would love to see where he got his figures from because most of the people of Northern Ireland want to be freed from English oppression and nearly all the people from the South want the same. The British government forced the republican movement to be by being imperialist bullies in the past and holding on to land that simply isn't theirs. I could go on with this argument all day but I won't. Fragmeister, try living here and see what the British government have done to my people and you won't put down a man like Gerry Adams. This book is a good read, not great, but written by a hero and should be appreciated by all.