Book Review - The Secret Army: The IRA by J. Bowyer Bell

A Definitive Work!

This is, or was, the definitive history of the IRA. Begun in 1974, this book had been constantly revised and updated by the author up until his death in 2002. Unfortunately for us, this means that this book was no longer updated with the most recent events such as the ongoing peace process and activities of breakaway groups such as the "New IRA" are not covered.

Its well written, although there are a number of bizarre run-on sentences and fragments which seem to be mistakes in editing. There are no pictures at all, at least in this edition. Not even a central photo section. The text itself is very informative and this book really is cited by almost every other history or book written about the IRA. It is really a necessary basic source for anyone wanting to really dig into the subject.

While Bell is not Irish himself, he seems to approach the subject fairly, portraying all sides in the conflict objectively. Or at least as much as possible. When the text gets to the modern era, he is critical of everyone, including the British Army, for all the pointless killing and bombings which occurred. Since the text ends with the Good Friday Agreement of 1997, Bell ends his work in a hopeful "we'll see" for the future of Ireland. As Bell passed away soon after, he could give no further analysis of the situation and for that, the student or reader will have to find more current histories. One thing for certain though, those histories will cite this work as a source.

I started reading books focused on one area or another of recent Irish History, the Civil War, the Anglo-Irish War, even a book on the Border Campaign of the late 50s early 60s. However, looking back at it, I would go so far as to say that anyone who wants to get into the history of the Troubles or recent Irish history, should start with this book first. The overview is invaluable.