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Email a friendA lifetime in Irish politics
TIM Pat Coogan is more famous in Britain for his journalism than as a man in his own right. He has written a history of the IRA, on "the troubles" in the north of Ireland and on great Irish historical figures such Eamonn de Valera and Michael Collins. This book, however, is about Coogan himself.
He was born in Ireland in 1935 and grew up in an upper-middle-class family. Although he didn't experience the violent period before and after the partition of his country in 1921, his parents and grandparents lived through it and ensured that he was told heroic tales of Irish republicanism.
His father had been involved with Sinn Fein and the IRA before partition, was close to Michael Collins and was a senior figure in setting up and running the Irish police force. Coogan writes proudly of his family in this memoir without betraying where his loyalties would have lain had he been around during the civil war.
He is not so cagey when talking about Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement. He nails his tricolour to the mast in the introduction, describing Northern Ireland as "the six north-eastern counties of Ireland, erroneously known as Ulster."
He was a critical figure in bringing southern politicians and Sinn Fein together, a relationship that helped bring an end to the Provisional IRA war against the British occupation and elaborates on this in full in the book.
He also writes eloquently of his experience of the Irish media, the Catholic church and northern Protestants.
Without a basic knowledge of Irish republicanism and Irish history in general, readers will easily get lost in this book. However, with a bit of both, it is an easy, enjoyable read.
STEVEN MATHER