Amazon.com Review
Former United States senator George Mitchell tells the inside story of how he maneuvered the warring factions of Northern Ireland into signing the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998. This was no small task, requiring him to bring together Sinn Fein president
Gerry Adams, Catholic moderate
John Hume, Protestant politico David Trimble, unionist Ian Paisley, Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, and British prime minister
Tony Blair. Mitchell's prose is a model of clarity--a surprising quality coming from the pen of a politician, especially one of the most partisan Senate majority leaders of all time. There is plenty of detail about the negotiations and all of their turns, but never so much as to become tedious. Along the way, Mitchell offers interesting asides on achieving success in politics and diplomacy: "As majority leader of the United States Senate, I had learned that when you've got the votes, you vote. Delay can only hurt." It's too soon to know the ultimate outcome of Mitchell's labors, but initial signs are hopeful, suggesting that this memoir might have real staying power.
--John J. Miller
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Politics, according to Bismarck, is the art of the possible. Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader, used his mastery of this art to achieve the seemingly impossible: a peace settlement in Northern Ireland. This is his account of his role as chairman of the interparty negotiations and of how the major nationalist and unionist political partiesAand the British and Irish governmentsAmanaged to forge the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Recruited by President Clinton to serve as an intermediary in the peace process, Mitchell spent nearly three years trying to create the conditions that made the final agreement possible. It wasn't easy. The IRA temporarily abandoned its ceasefire in the middle of the process, and extremist unionist and nationalist paramilitary groups tried their utmost to thwart the process by continuing to conduct bombings and shootings. Mitchell describes the twists and turns of the peace process in comprehensive detail, and his overview of the conflict provides a concise introduction to the turbulent history of Northern Ireland. He came to know all of the major protagonists very well, and his shrewd assessments of Gerry Adams ("sincerely trying hard, in difficult and dangerous circumstances, to bring his supporters into the grand tent of democracy"), David Trimble ("he saw the opportunity to end a long and bitter conflict, and he did not want to go down in the history books as the man who let it pass") and other political leaders enrich the book. In discussing the crucial final negotiating session, the narrative becomes as fast-paced as any thriller. While noting that the peace remains fragile, Mitchell provides solid evidence for believing the Good Friday agreement will hold and that the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland have finally come to an end.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
