INLA: Deadly divisions [Paperback]

Jack Holland (Author), Henry McDonald (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 387 pages
• Publisher: Torc (1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189814205X
• ISBN-13: 978-1898142058
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,782,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My name is Jenny Holland, and I'm writing this to help get the word out about my late father's last book, "Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice."

My father was Jack Holland, a well-known Irish author and journalist. He died in May 2004 shortly after completing the book.

My father was from Belfast, Northern Ireland but spent much of his adult life in New York and Italy.

He wrote mostly on the violence and political strife that plagued his native Northern Ireland, and became a trusted voice amid the mayhem.

Among his books on the topic were the acclaimed "Hope Against History: The Course of the Conflict in Northern Ireland" (Henry Holt, 1999) and "Phoenix: Policing the Shadows" (co-author Susan Phoenix, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996)

For years he wrote a beloved column for the New York-based Irish Echo, writing about everything from the old railway lines that used to criss-cross Ireland to the tangled peace process back in Belfast.

In 2002 he turned his journalists eye to another torturous subject: misogyny. The end result is a gem of a book, a page-turner that is suprisingly easy to read, considering its sometimes brutal subject matter, and truly enlightening.

The book has been published posthumously by Carrol & Graf. I urge everyone who has ever thought about how men and women treat each other to buy it, read it, and pass the word on!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Should be filed under "Fiction", January 13, 2000

By 

Peter Urban (Derry, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: INLA: Deadly divisions (Paperback)

As a member of the IRSM for the past 18 years, I am well aware of the movement this work claims to be the history of, and it is from this vantage point that I can state it is so filled with false information it is impossible to rely upon as a historical source.

From start to finish the authors depart from any pretense of historical objectivity and instead turn of vicious black propaganda of the worst sort.

Noone active in the Irish Republican Socialist Movement was interviewed for the book, but instead it is based almost entirely on the testimony of Harry Flynn, who left the movement in 1983-84 in a bitter dispute and never returned. Never, that is, other than in a strange alliance with Gerard Steeson who had once ordered his death, the sole purpose of which was to destroy the Irish National Liberation Army.

Even the supposed interview with the INLA's chief of staff published as an appendix is false, having actually been composed by IRSP member Liz LaGrua in response to written questions the author submitted.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More fiction than fact, enemies used to relay INLA history., October 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: INLA: Deadly divisions (Paperback)

The trouble with this easy to read book is the fact that Jack Holland and Henry McDonald used people outside the Republican Socialist Movement, namely former members of IPLO, to tell the history of the INLA. With this obvious bias, of course it will be a hatchet job.

It is akin to having a history of the IRA written with the aid of loyalists or IRA informers, who have reason to paint the organisation as negatively as possible.

The main problem beyond this, then, is that it is referred to as the ultimate history of the INLA, and used to discredit the republican socialist movement. For those with an anti-republican or anti-socialist agenda, their needs are met with this book.

Sadly, people have bought the myth of the INLA that this book presents, much to the detriment of activists and supporters of the movement.

While the authors never even bothered to interview members of the IRSP or INLA for their book, it is still a must-have book if you can locate a copy, which is easier said than done.

Again, it's easy to read, and it does give some basic background info, but the maze of speculation and unfounded allegations passed as fact makes it a bad start for a beginner.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Obviously biased and badly researched, August 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: INLA: Deadly divisions (Paperback)

In response to the review by the so-called teacher from Belfast(who couldn't even spell teacher, and several other words) I must point out that this is a review of the book, not a forum for you to air your bigotry and hatred of a certain organisation. This book is obviously badly researched, relying on information from sources who have reason to show the INLA in a bad light.It would have benefitted from the input of a range of objective and informed contributors who want to present a well researched and true reflection of this organisation. And, as I currently live in Northern Ireland, and have lived there all my life, you may not find it so easy to discredit my opinion on this matter.