Customer Reviews

Loyalists: War and Peace in Northern Ireland

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

 

 

First and foremost, the introduction was very sad but made me keep reading. Although my sympathies lie more in the nationalist camp, through reading this book I was able to comprehend why the loyalists have done things like the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in '74. Taylor does a wonderful job of showing that in a conflict such as that in Northern Ireland, no one is innocent, and people feel forced to do things that they would never do under normal circumstances. I would have liked to have seen more about the loyalist splinter groups, as well as the UDA's connection to Combat 18, which is a British neo-Nazi group, but those are tiny little nit-picky details in a much wider conflict. Like his book on the IRA, Taylor has done massive amounts of research and interviews with this book. I feel sorry for the people who have died in this conflict in the past 33 years, and Taylor has shown me why I feel that way.

This book complements the author's Provos/Behind the Mask very well. It is an excellent read for any person interested in Northern Ireland.

If you don't have any allegiance to either side of the conflict you will enjoy this history and analysis of the Loyalist terror groups. Ignore the other reviewer's bias, this is well written and I highly recommend it.

This is actually a very good book it shows the plight of both Nationalists and Unionists in Northern Ireland, but more importantly it shows how the Loyalist paramilitaries(the UDA and UVF) although not nearly as powerfull or as well trained as the Republican IRA and INLA, have never the less been able to kill over 900 hundred Catholic civilians. The book does a good job making a distinction between members of the UDA and UVF like Gusty Spence, who did not want to hurt Catholic civilians, and depraved killers like Johnny Adair and Billy Wright, who only killed innocent unarmed men and women. The one thing the book shows exceptionally well is how the UDA and UVF were Ultimately no match for the seasoned IRA(although they try to stoke thier inflated ego's by saying they were winning against the IRA when everyone agrees they were actually losing).

This book is blunt, painfully so in that it is chilling to hear people speak so openly about the atrocities they carried out in N. Ireland during the troubles. What other reviewers have failed to mention in their pro-nationalist writings, is the underlying feeling of alienation that the Loyalist people of Ulster are enduring. On one hand, republicans are relentless in their campaign of bombing and shooting, and on the other, the British Government, giving concession after concession to Sinn Fein/IRA. Add to that the Shankill bombing, Enniskillen, Warrenpoint etc, and one can understand the pent up hatred in the protestant population, manifesting into terrorism for some. This book tries to explain the rationale in the thinking of the people responsible for Loyalist violence, without condemning or condoning it. His insights in to how the escalation of the war by the new blood in the UDA and UVF ultimately brought about peace are controversial but probably right. Unionists are the majority and the IRA should accept that so that others don't have to pick up the gun to defend their way of life. A good read, it takes its place amongst the numerous books written on republican terrorism.

this book is pretty acurate and describes the attempt by prodestent paramilitaries to emulate the better trained and equiped IRA and to be as ruthless as the INLA which they manage with some success to do.this book also shows the lack of leadership and orginazation within loyalist groups which allowed the IRA to survive repeated attacks upon themselves by groups such as the UVF and UFF/UDA while at the same time assasinating protestent terrorists and british security forces, and in the process becoming the largest best trained terrorist organization in europe. it also details the involvement of british intelligence in sacraficing the protestent and catholic people of northern ireland by training loyalists and not combating them or the IRA effectively.

Even with the Good Friday Agreement, the more things change in Northern Ireland, the more they remain the same. Protestant terrorists launch grenade attacks on Catholic-owned bars in Belfast and Derry.May 21st 1999 saw a grenade attack on a public bar on the Falls Road in Belfast injuring 4 people and almost killing 200 people.This attack was carried out by Protestant terrorists. Is it any wonder that the Provisional Irish Republican Army have grave doubts about surrendering arms ??

The inaccuracies start very early. It really needs to be edited again. I am sorry I bought it. A wasted opportunity and a big step backwards for the author in my opinion.

Learn something about Irish history before you go making your all-knowing comments about Irish Republicans. The loyalists are taking up arms because of hundreds of years if paranoia built into them after stealing Irish land. They know they are wrong and that the Irish want it back. If they want their british way of life then go back to Britain. Also, the IRA should not accept british rule because you claim there are more loyalists than Nationalists. If you mean a larger protestant population in the north of Ireland than the Catholic population, you should do some research. Irish Catholics are about 50% now and will soon be a majority. Why do you think the brits only took 6 of Ulster's 9 counties? So they would have a majority population. The IRA are only trying to protect themselves from hundreds of years of english oppression. The book is a fine one and MOST people are smart enough to either keep their opinions to themselves or do more research before passing ignorant judgement on something they really know nothing about.

An interesting and detailed study of the brave defenders of Ulster and the way in which they were able to miltarily defeat the Provos. The abject surrender by the IRA to the the UVF/UFF/LVF and RHC was humiliating but necessary in order to avoid total collapse. I suppose at least that now the Provies won't need to spend their time now planning their next baby-killing stunt.

this book is drivel. protestants may be mean and nasty, but they are not murderers; they are just defending their Britishness and their British way of life.