Customer Reviews

Faithful Tribe: The Loyal Institutions

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an American, I am constantly bombarded with pro-Irish, Catholic views when it comes to the state of Northern Ireland. Heck, most of us become Irish every March 17th, but finally I have found a book that talks about Northern Ireland from a view other than an Irish-Catholic one.
"A Fatihful Tribe" does very well at trying to explain a part of Protestant Northern Ireland without stomping all over the ideas of Catholics living there. Edwards did an excellent job at trying to explain the essence of the Orange Order and how it relates to many Protestants of Northern Ireland. I had the privilege of living in a small town outside of Belfast for a few months in a Protestant household, who has members of the Orange Order. Though I never went to any meetings, I did attend many events including some of the larger parades. Edwards does an amazing job of accurately describing the whole idea of the typical Orangeman and how the Protestant community as a whole is. I heard all the stories and especially the bias of "Irish" Ameicans about how Northern Ireland and how Catholics are treated. Both sides have their good and bad points and Edwards is great at showing that there is always a few people who give a whole organization, or maybe even a whole religion a bad name.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in Northern Ireland. I have not found many books that show the Protestant view. But more than that, she is a person who was raised Catholic in the Republic and has chosen to be as unbiased as she can.

I was born and grew up in Protestant, working-class Belfast. I think that the Irish reviewer elsewhere is occasionally too harsh, but I think his (or her) basic premises are correct. Edwards appears to me to lean too much to the Orange side, making much of the basic decency of the average Orangeman (something which I can personally vouch for). As the Irish reviewer said, the Protestants see themselves as hard-working, clean and tidy, while the Catholics are "throughother" (lovely Northern word meaning untidy and dirty). My bitterly Orange grandmother certainly thought so. Edwards seems to accept this without actually saying so. Naughty!

The real value of this book is that it portrays the Northern Protestants as they see themselves. This is a viewpoint which the other parties, the British and Irish governments, the Nationalist/Republican parties and the IRA, ignore at their peril. These are the people whose battle cry, shouted from the walls of Derry in 1689, is "No surrender!" They will not collapse, they will not go away and if confronted, they will go down kicking and screaming all the way. They have the capacity to cause enormous damage to the whole island of Ireland. It should be compulsory reading for all concerned.

This is simultaneously an excellent book and a terrible book. It is excellent in the sense in which it explains the viewpoint of Orange Order. You get a real feel for the world view of the ordinary men and women in this organisation. This is no mean feat in that the rest of the world, including those of us who live in Ireland, have looked on in mystification and incomprehension at its activities. As a southern Irish person, I can honestly say that this book gives the best insight I have read into the Orange mentality. I could not put it down once I started.

However, the book achieves this aim too well. It takes as fact many of the various prejudices upon which the afore-mentioned worldview rests. Many of these would be insulting if they were not downright silly. Catholics being 'Feckless' is mentioned as if it were a fact rather than an opinion at one point in the text. So much for the Celtic Tiger economy at home and the success of millions of irish catholic emigrants abroad. Objectors to Orange marches are invariably presented as acting in bad faith.

What I find particularly insidious is the equation of the Irish Nationalist/Republican tradition and the Orange/Loyalist tradition in terms of sectarianism. This is not to deny the terrible things done in its name in recent times, but Dudley-Edwards is disingenuous in not pointing out that the nationalist/republican tradition is anti-sectarian in ideology (if not always in practice) whereas the orange/loyalist tradition is based on a separate protestant identity. For instance, the fact that Parnell, the leader of the nationalist movement in the late 1800's, who supposedly prompted the orange backlash, was himself a Protestant, is not mentioned. The fact that at least half of the nationalist pantheon of heroes is protestant was not mentioned. Roger Casement, the County Antrim Protestant, and human rights campaigner, who was executed for his part in the 1916 rising was not mentioned. So from this viewpoint the book is hopelessly biased.

In addition, the author displays her distorted view of reality by refering to herself, as a southerner, as a 'foreigner' in the North. She trots out the same old prejudiced claptrap of catholics being untidy drunkards and protestants being tidy and sober. This sort of rubbish is the justification for bigotry around the world. It is sad to see Dr DE's sychophancy extend to the propagation of this.

Beware of the description of Irish history, which although generally true is completely from the 'winners' viewpoint.Her statement that 3000 people from Kerry died in the two world wars is patent nonsense.

However, that said, it is a hell of a read. She shows the undoubted decency and hospitality (outside the political domain)of Orange people, which is a shared characteristic of country people in ireland generally. She also shows how greatly the unionist people have suffered at the hands of the IRA.

Overall, it gives little hope for the future.

Read it, but beware!

Feckless

This book is excellent and should be compulsory reading for all Americans interested in Ireland. It is a clear exposition of the traditions and religious beliefs of the Orangemen and demolishes much of the myths smeared at the LOI by anti-Protestant bigots. A very very good read and the authoress should be congratulated.

For once a book that actually puts forward a view that most Orangemen and Protestants agreed with. Thye book is very balanced but unfortunatley Ruth Dudley Edwards wanders into a political debate rather than sticking to a cultural theme which is what the Loyal Orders are about.