The architects of the new policy to criminalise those who resisted and portray prisoners as ordinary criminals, failed to take into account the resistance of a new generation of political prisoners, those sentenced after March 1st. The lies, threats and intimidation that were afforded him in the immediate aftermath of this book coming out shows how much truth there actually is in this book and how the Hunger Strikers were actually pawns in a game being played by both the British and Irish Republicans not only at the time but still now in 2010 seeing they are the biggest money maker for Provisional Sinn Fein, and Gerry Adams in person seeing as he is the only one in charge of the Bobby Sands Trust, not even the Sands family are afforded any say in what the Trust does, claims or any money they might make. A vivid and emotional first hand account of life in the H-Blocks on the blanket protest and during the hunger strikes. McCaughey was demanding political status, refusing to wear prison clothes and was kept naked (except for a blanket) in solitary confinement for nearly five years. Ructions conjured up, in my mind, an individual who was a menace to society, someone who would be capable of committing murder on the one hand and showing common decency on the other.

The blanket men had hoped to move about 30 men off the blanket and no-wash protest before Christmas Day but were stopped by Governor Hilditch who told Bobby Sands that nobody would be moving anywhere until they put on prison-issue clothing and conformed. In 1920 several hunger strikes (Mountjoy and Cork) were conducted by Irish Republicans demanding political status, resulting in two deaths from starvation. After ten years, and the release of historical state and personal papers, Richard O’Rawe’s assertions in Blanketmen have been vindicated.That the arrests were arbitrary, the charges based on forced confessions, the remands lengthy, the trials farcical and the sentences totally unjust was incidental,. It is terribly distracting and sounds very silly, which is unfortunate given the seriousness of the topic. On Wednesday, December 10th, when a senior member of the colonial Northern Ireland Office, a Mr Blellock, met the seven H-Block hunger strikers in the prison hospital and read out to them the prison reforms that were then available but refused to answer questions or negotiate with Brendan Hughes, former O/C of the blanket men. In this passionate, disturbing and controversial book, O'Rawe reveals the reasons and motives behind the negotiations and strategy changes that eventually brought about the Peace Process.

Richard O'Rawe brings to the table in this book, the same truth and strength he brings to the table in his everyday life. The writing is pretty dry before the narrative on the hunger strike really begins and this made it hard for me to get started at first. O'Rawe, on the other hand, is an uncensored version of events that did happen and that are still being swept under the carpet by those guilty of murdering 6 of the 10. I just did not particularly want to go along for the ride; I just could not agree to get down and dirty with him and his compatriots.

However, to the dismay of the prisoners, within days the atmosphere in the prison changed as soon as the spotlight shifted away from the jail. To those of us who observed it from the outside, an authoritative account of what was going on in there, amongst the men, and who was in charge. This book is hard hitting, enlightening, and an honest account of the innermost thoughts of an IRA man in the H blocks throughout the dirty protest, and hunger strikes. With the document in transit to Belfast, Hughes took the decision to save McKenna's life and end the strike after 53 days on 18 December.

Long Kesh, by name and appearance was known worldwide as a concentration camp and the large number of political prisoners drawn from all over the Six Counties enjoyed, through family, community and local connections, maximum support. On 4 February the prisoners issued a statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of "hunger striking once more". To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. At the center of O'Rawe's book lies the disclosure that six of the ten H-Block hunger strikers starved themselves to death in vain, as an offer from the British Government was on the table that could have ended the strike after four of them had died.The names, dates, and stories all fit in with the stories told by others that were living through the Troubles, both from Irish and British perspectives, that I have also read. Brutal account of both the prison officers abuse but also brutally honest about the failings of IRA leadership on the outside.

There can be no doubt that these men were committed to their cause but the cause they died for was not the prize that Gerry Adams had in mind.The blanket men and protesting women prisoners, totally exasperated, finally commenced hunger strike on October 27th, 1980.