An event in the history of Belfast which had a profound effect was the blitzing of the city in the Spring of 1941. What seem inevitable now, that the Luftwaffe would target such an important manufacturing city, when at the time Belfast was thought to be out of range for the German planes. This left Belfast as one commentator put it ' the most unpro

August 1969, Belfast. A campaign for civil rights in Northern Ireland that had begun less than two years previously degenerates into inter-communal violence. The three days of 13, 14 and 15 August changed the course of Northern Irish history by radicalising a whole generation of Catholic youths. On the Protestant side, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) – revived in 1966 but barely mentioned outside Shankill Road – was in full conflict by 1972. How did the events of August 1969 radicalise the emerging youth of both sides of the religious divide? How did they drive an otherwise indifferent generation to carry out some of the most heinous crimes in Irish history and become embroiled in the longest period of Irish ‘Troubles’ to date? In Belfast ’69, Andrew Walsh uncovers the truth by interviewing many from both sides – the young men who joined the numerous ‘armies’ that sprung up in the wake of that fateful August. Illustrations: 41 colour photographs

Based on official records and personal accounts, this work examines the authorities' lack of preparation and the full terror of the blitz. It also highlights how the blitz exposed extreme poverty in Belfast and the bleak social aftermath of the raids.

Inspired by true events, this vivid and moving story of a young woman zookeeper and the elephant she's compelled to protect through the German blitz of Belfast during WWll speaks to not only the tragedy of the times, but also to the ongoing sectarian tensions that still exist in Northern Ireland today—perfect for readers of historical and literary fiction alike. Belfast, October 1940. Twenty-year-old zookeeper Hettie Quin arrives at the city docks in time to meet her new charge: an orphaned three-year-old Indian elephant named Violet. As Violet adjusts to her new solitary life in captivity and Hettie mourns the recent loss of her sister and the abandonment of her father, new storm clouds gather. A world war rages, threatening a city already reeling from escalating tensions between British Loyalists and those fighting for a free and unified Ireland. The relative peace is shattered by air-raid sirens on the evening of Easter Tuesday 1941. Over the course of the next five hours, hundreds of bombs rain down upon Belfast, claiming almost a thousand lives and decimating the city. Dodging the debris and carnage of the Luftwaffe attack, Hettie runs to the zoo to make sure that Violet is unharmed. The harrowing ordeal and ensuing aftermath set the pair on a surprising path that highlights the indelible, singular bond that often brings mankind and animals together during horrifying times. Inspired by a largely forgotten chapter of World War II, S. Kirk Walsh deftly renders the changing relationship between Hettie and Violet, and their growing dependence on each other for survival and solace. The Elephant of Belfast is a complicated and beguiling portrait of hope and resilience--and how love can sustain us during the darkest moments of our lives.

In this groundbreaking title, A. R. Oppenheimer tells how the Irish Republican Army became the most adept and experienced insurgency group the world has ever seen through their bombing expertise – and how, after generations of conflict, it all came to an end. The book is a comprehensive account of more than 150 years of Irish republican strategic, tactical, and operational details, and an analysis of the IRA’s mission, doctrine, targeting, and acquisition of weapons and explosives. As a leading expert on non-conventional weapons and explosives, Oppenheimer vividly presents the story behind the bombs – those who built and deployed them; those who had to deal with and dismantle them; and those who suffered or died from them. He analyses where, how, and why the IRA’s 19,000 bombs were built, targeted and deployed, and explores what the IRA was hoping to accomplish in its unrivaled campaign of violence and insurgency through covert acquisition, training, intelligence and counter-intelligence. Beginning with the Fenian ‘Dynamiters’ in the second half of the nineteenth century, Oppenheimer fully describes and assesses the impact of the pre-1970s bombing campaigns in Northern Ireland and England and the evolution of strategies and tactics during the Troubles. He concludes with the decommissioning of an arsenal big enough to arm several battalions – which included an entire home-crafted missile system, an unsurpassed range of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and enough explosives to blow up several urban centres. The author scrutinises the level of deadly improvisation that became the hallmark of the Provisional IRA’s expertise and the ingenuity in its pioneering IED timing, delay and disguise technologies, and follows the arms race it carried on with the British Army and security services in a long war of mutual assured disruption. He also provides an insight into the bombing equipment and guns in the vast IRA inventory held at Irish Police HQ in Dublin.

The memoir of the 'Brighton Bomber', Patrick Magee, chronicling his early years, time in the IRA, and later involvement in the peace process.

When Ciaran Carson's first book of poems, The New Estate, was published in 1976, Tom Paulin hailed him as 'a brilliant and formidable talent'. His second collection, The Irish for No, appears after a gap of ten years.