Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike [Paperback]

David Beresford (Author), Peter Maas (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 1997

In 1981 ten men starved themselves to death inside the walls of Long Kesh prison in Belfast. While a stunned world watched and distraught family members kept bedside vigils, one "soldier" after another slowly went to his death in an attempt to make Margaret Thatcher's government recognize them as political prisoners rather than common criminals.

Drawing extensively on secret IRA documents and letters from the prisoners smuggled out at the time, David Beresford tells the gripping story of these strikers and their devotion to the cause. An intensely human story, Ten Men Dead offers a searing portrait of strife-torn Ireland, of the IRA, and the passions -- on both sides -- that Republicanism arouses.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Taken inside infamous Long Kesh prison in Belfast, the reader of this searing journal experiences the emotional stranglehold that the legacy of troubled Ireland has on 10 men who in 1981 chose to perish in a hunger strike. Written by a reporter who covered the story for The Guardian , the book is shaped around secret communications, scraps of cigarette paper which the prisoners wrote on and concealed in bodily orifices until the messages could be smuggled outside to the IRA leadership. These "comms" are intimate, meticulous records of the men who went first "on the blanket" in naked protest, then to their self-scheduled deaths. We see and hear the families, alike and yet different in their grief; the churchmen and political leaders in attempts to dissuade and negotiate; and "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, resolute in the grim battle of wills. In the final compelling words of Beresford, "They died for a cause more ancient than the gray walls of Long Kesh prison."
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The author, a journalist from The Guardian , was given access to the secret IRA communications ("comms") that flowed in and out of the H Blocks at Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland during the strike. These add an important new dimension to the history of the event. The choice of the hunger strike, the goals, the recruitment of volunteers, the agony of the ten deaths, and the capitulation of the IRA, in the end, to the families who would not allow their sons to die, is recounted with compelling intensity. Beresford writes with empathy for all those involved, but his book is not an IRA tract. His excellent, thorough narrative finds blame enough for everybody, and serves to show how the hunger strike tragedy mirrors the larger tragedy of Ulster. Recommended to those who want to know more about the IRA and the price nationalism extracts from its supporters.
- Richard B. Finnegan, Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.
Copyright 1989 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: 334 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (January 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087113702X
• ISBN-13: 978-0871137029
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for anyone involved in social protest, January 12, 2001

By 

Alan Mills (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike (Paperback)

Social protest takes many forms. Some simply write letters. Some picket, or go on strike, risking their jobs. Some even go on a hunger strike for a few days.

The ten members of the IRA whose story is told (in incredibly moving detail) in this book take social protest to a level most of us are not familiar with. They quite literally agreed to sacrifice their lives...not in one fell swoop (like those who set themselves on fire), but in a slow, agonizing death drawn out over many weeks.

This is true dedication to a cause. Having read the book, one is tempted to view all other social protests as half-hearted. Of course, their protest only made sense because of the mass organization and widespread support the strikers had, both inside the prison and on the street. Bobby sands was actually elected to Parliment while dying!

Anyone who wants to learn about what it takes to effect change, and the pitfalls of adopting such radical tactics, must read this book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Well Balanced and Thoughtful Account, February 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike (Paperback)

This book gives a gripping and well detailed account of the 1981 Hunger Strike. Beresford is a journalist who was provided with "comms" (communications) from the hunger strikers and inmates at Long Kesh prison, and much of the book is based on these smuggled notes. Beresford does a fine job of presenting background, and of tempering views by providing background on both sides. Although I find myself in the Republican camp, I did find that he presented the situtation well. When it feels as though you are strongly backing actions and previous criminal acts by inmates and hunger strikers, Beresford depicts family members and biographies of Union/Loyalist supporters to remind us that all are human beings with families and lives who have been lost in this long-standing problem. But Beresford also engages the reader, revealing the hunger strikers as people who were seriously committed to a cause they were willing to give their lives for. The struggle over Northern Ireland is not taken lightly. Although the writing stumbles occasionally, the journalistic approach and research off-sets it by documenting a great deal. This book provides a wonderful historical picture and insight into a tragic part of history.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Comms" a powerful testament, October 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike (Paperback)

This is a great book, made so by the author's plentiful use of the prisoners' "comms." These were messages to the outside world written in tiny handwriting on pieces of cigarette paper and then smuggled in and out of the prison in various bodily orifices. This book certainly opened my eyes to just how much can be jammed up the back door (a portable radio and a camera?!) The author was given unprecedented access to these day by day records of the hunger strike by the IRA Army Council, and he makes extensive use of them. This is a powerful and moving chapter in modern history, and the writings of the prisoners' commander "Bik" -- Brendan McFarlane, who studied to become a priest before joining the IRA -- tell the story better than any historian could. My only complaint with the book is that it gets disorganized in the middle. After carefully tracing the development of the hunger strike and laying out the stories of the hunger strikers through the first four deaths, the author drops the ball. All of a sudden we're told that there are five people on strike, then a few pages later eight. This had me searching previous chapters to find out who these people were, to no avail. The author goes back and picks up the pieces for some of the hunger strikers later on, but he should have stuck with the person by person style of the early part of the book. Also, it was sort of annoying that several names of key players were spelled wrong, leading me to wonder if other details may have been wrong.