On the Blanket The Inside Story of the IRA Prisoners' "Dirty" Protest

by Coogan, Tim Pat

• ISBN13: 9780312295134
• ISBN10: 0312295138
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-17
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

The H Block protest is one of the strangest and most controversial issues in the tragic history of Northern Ireland. Republican prisoners, convicted of grave crimes through special courts and ruthless interrogation procedures, campaigned for political status by refusing to wear prison clothes and daubing their cell with excrement.Were they properly convicted criminals, or martyrs to political injustice? In a masterpiece of investigative journalism, Coogan provides us with the only first-hand account of the protest. His investigation led deep into the social, cultural, and economic maze of Northern Ireland's history to give readers an unmatched analysis of a troubled place and its sorrowful history.

Author Biography

Tim Pat Coogan is one of the best known journalists and historians in Ireland. Former editor of the Irish Press, his books include The Troubles, The IRA, and Wherever Green is Worn.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 7
Acknowledgments	p. 10
Preface	p. 11
The Road to H Block
Inside	p. 15
Those That Can Suffer the Most	p. 27
Lighting the Fuse	p. 45
Cloak and Dagger	p. 60
The Larger Prison	p. 84
Anatomy of Defiance
How it Started	p. 93
Family Life	p. 98
"Too long a sacrifice..."	p. 115
The Pettigrews	p. 121
Women on the Dirty Protest	p. 129
Torture, Politics and Censorship	p. 144
The Deadly Campaign	p. 162
Reactions and Repercussions
Telling the World	p. 169
Belfast, Dublin, Strasbourg	p. 194
Eyewitness: Long Kesh	p. 206
Eyewitness: Armagh	p. 228
Where the Warders Stand	p. 240
Epilogue: Towards a Solution?	p. 251
Postscript	p. 260
The Reid-Alison Exchange	p. 265
Republicans in British Jails in 1980	p. 283
Prison Officers Killed 1976-80	p. 288
Index	p. 289
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