Recommended on the Rest Is Politics podcast, this tremendous piece of writing by Patrick Radden Keefe provides an insight into the lives and motivations of some key characters during the Troubles. A hugely detailed piece of work, the care and research seeps from every page.
Clearly a hugely controversial topic, Say Nothing approaches the story by telling the lives of a few of the Republicans involved; whether directly damaged at the time or decades later, none of them come out unscathed aside from Gerry Adams. Although he seems the great survivor, he appears to have lost the respect of many/most of those he was close to when younger.
The transition from paramilitary to politics, from Armalite to ballot, has evidentially been a net positive in terms of overall peace, but for some Republican individuals it is a painful betrayal of the physical and mental sacrifices they made. Morals and ethics aside, Say Nothing illustrates that many of the people that were deeply and passionately fighting for what they thought was justice were consigned to lives of post-traumatic poverty, rejection, and bitterness.
A real insight into the internecine pain across decades of conflict.
