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Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading but too one sided
Review: I read this book several years ago because I was fed up of hearing about Northern Ireland on the news and (like most people in Britain) not knowing what the conflict was fully about. However Tim Pat Coogan only half rectified this. On the plus side this book gives a comprehensive account of the main incidents, in a clear and engaging style, occasionally giving personal anecdotes to add a more human element to the proceedings. It quickly becomes apparent that contrary to the main conception, the conflict has very little to do with religion and all to do with a typical power struggle complicated by nationalism and ineffectual British governmental policy. Coogan presents the horrors (and there are some very disturbing ones) and the missed opportunities in an intelligent fashion. He's also an expert on the IRA. Where the book falls short however is in it's blatant bias. Coogan is firmly on the side of the Irish nationalists (as am I), however he does not go far enough to explain the Unionist view point, thus many readers will go away bewildered at the protestants, perceiving them as deranged orange devils, as many British people already do (though in Ian Paisley's case they may be correct). Thus Coogan is pretty irresponsible especially as this can be a very emotive issue. Overall, this book should still be read (it is a very enjoyable read), but with caution or preferably in tandem with another source that gives the unionist side more fully.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably biased
Review: This book is so one-sided and biased that it loses the right to be termed a "history book" but is rather simply a Republican propaganda exercise by a man known to be totally prejudiced against the Unionist population in Ulster. A TOTAL waste of time and money. Embarrassing actually.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably biased
Review: This book is so one-sided and biased that it loses the right to be termed a "history book" but is rather simply a Republican propaganda exercise by a man known to be totally prejudiced against the Unionist population in Ulster. A TOTAL waste of time and money. Embarrassing actually.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and Eye-Opening
Review: While Coogan's Nationalist Opinions shine through like a beacon, his revelations and information appear to be incredibly well-researched. It amazes me how bigotry on the part of Unionists (especially Ian Paisley, who appears to have given birth to the Northern Ireland version of the Ku Klux Klan), closed-minded denial on the part of British politicians, and high-handedness of the British Army brought about the failure of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement and led to the accession of the IRA. Even the most unbiased person, when given all the objective facts -- which Coogan's writings amply demonstrate that the British government for years effectively censored such facts -- leads to the inexorable conclusion that British and Unionists played the biggest role in leading Northern Ireland to the violence of the Troubles, and that these entities themselves created a level of violence and murder equivalent to that perpetuated by the IRA. This book is a definitive work on the issues that still plague Northern Ireland.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful and Eye-Opening
Review: While Coogan's Nationalist Opinions shine through like a beacon, his revelations and information appear to be incredibly well-researched. It amazes me how bigotry on the part of Unionists (especially Ian Paisley, who appears to have given birth to the Northern Ireland version of the Ku Klux Klan), closed-minded denial on the part of British politicians, and high-handedness of the British Army brought about the failure of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement and led to the accession of the IRA. Even the most unbiased person, when given all the objective facts -- which Coogan's writings amply demonstrate that the British government for years effectively censored such facts -- leads to the inexorable conclusion that British and Unionists played the biggest role in leading Northern Ireland to the violence of the Troubles, and that these entities themselves created a level of violence and murder equivalent to that perpetuated by the IRA. This book is a definitive work on the issues that still plague Northern Ireland.
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