Bobby Sands
Nothing But an Unfinished Song
This is the best-selling biography of the IRA resistance fighter and hunger-striker, Bobby Sands. In this updated, new edition, Denis O’Hearn draws from a wealth of interviews with friends, comrades, fellow prisoners and prison wardens, to provide a faithful and shocking insight into life in Northern Ireland’s H-Block prisons, an exploration of the motivations and thoughts of the Republican strikers and the story of one of the world’s most radical, inspirational figures.
Following his journey from its very beginnings - an ordinary boy from a working-class background in Belfast to a highly politicised, articulate revolutionary whose death in HM Prison Maze sent reverberations around the world, Bobby Sands: Nothing But An Unfinished Song captures the atmosphere of the time and the vibrancy of the man: a militant anti-imperialist who held on to his humanity despite living through a bitter, ugly struggle.
Following his journey from its very beginnings - an ordinary boy from a working-class background in Belfast to a highly politicised, articulate revolutionary whose death in HM Prison Maze sent reverberations around the world, Bobby Sands: Nothing But An Unfinished Song captures the atmosphere of the time and the vibrancy of the man: a militant anti-imperialist who held on to his humanity despite living through a bitter, ugly struggle.
Denis O'Hearn is Professor of Sociology, Binghamton University, New York. He has studied prison communities and conflict in the H-Blocks in Ireland, Turkish F-type prisons, and US supermax prisons. His latest book, is Living at the Edges of Capitalism (University of California Press, 2016).
'An excellent book. It tells not just the story of Bobby, the prison protest and hunger strikes, but accurately captures the atmosphere of the prison. Friends of Bobby tell of the person they knew. He is alive and vibrant on every page' - Dr Laurence McKeown, former IRA Hunger-Striker
'The life of Bobby Sands shows development, growth, maturation, and a profoundly humanistic internationalist flavour, in the midst of a bitter, ugly struggle that can purge the humanity out of anyone' - Mumia Abu-Jamal, American activist and journalist
'A gripping, heart-stopping, exhilarating sometimes sad book - a story of life, love and noble death' - Malachy McCourt, actor, writer and politician
'Bobby Sands, as this magnificent biography reminds us, was a hero for the whole world. We cried when he died, but he laughed in the face of tyranny and taught us the deepest meaning of comradeship' - Mike Davis, political activist and historian
'This book has been, in my view, a primary tool for our collective, peaceful efforts, and helped us to achieve victories in our struggle - Bobby's spirit lives on' - Todd Ashker, representative of the Short Corridor Collective Human Rights Movement, Pelican Bay State Prison, California
Foreword to the New Edition by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Preface to the New Edition
Prelude
1. Growing Up in Utopia
2. Violence and Anger
3. Into the IRA
4. A Change of Scene
5. A Trip to the South
6. Prison
7. Things Get Hot
8. Learning to Rebel
9. Leaving Long Kesh
10. Putting It into Practice
11. A Bad Day in Dunmurry
12. Castlereagh
13. Back to Prison
14. Solitary Confinement
15. On the Blanket
16. Escalating the Protest
17. H6: Building Solidarity Within
18. H6: Extending the Protest
19. Toward the Inevitable
20. Hunger Strike
21. Step by Step
22. The End
23. The Beginning
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index
Preface to the New Edition
Prelude
1. Growing Up in Utopia
2. Violence and Anger
3. Into the IRA
4. A Change of Scene
5. A Trip to the South
6. Prison
7. Things Get Hot
8. Learning to Rebel
9. Leaving Long Kesh
10. Putting It into Practice
11. A Bad Day in Dunmurry
12. Castlereagh
13. Back to Prison
14. Solitary Confinement
15. On the Blanket
16. Escalating the Protest
17. H6: Building Solidarity Within
18. H6: Extending the Protest
19. Toward the Inevitable
20. Hunger Strike
21. Step by Step
22. The End
23. The Beginning
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index
Published by Pluto Press in Mar 2016
Paperback ISBN: 9780745336336
eBook ISBN: 9781783718108
eBook ISBN: 9781783718108
129mm x 198mm