A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace

Gerry Adams is a native of "northern Ireland" and he is a politician and head of Sinn Fein party which means in translation "ourselves". As a nationalist he has worked for many years for the cause on Irish unity. He has had many ups and downs including being shot, serving jail time and being elected an MP to Westminster, etc. The book covers the period from approximately 1970 to 1998. I would like to quote one passage from the book that says a lot about his thinking. This was during negotiations with all the parties in London at Lancaster House, the building of prior historical negotiations. Here 150 years after the great famine he describes the setting for the negotiations..." It was here-amid the grandeur and the Lousi XIV interiors and the other fine furnishings, undoubtedly stolen from around the world or purchased with other ill gotten gains...". So his Irish nationalism and his annoyance with the colonial English rulers are abundantly clear even in the late 1990's. People that understand colonialism certainly can empathize with Mr Adams. Gerry Adams has written approximately eight other books so he is not new to books. This is a substantial book about 400 pages long, small font, lots of details. He is not a professional writer and sometimes the writing is a bit cumbersome. Having said that this is simply an excellent read both entertaining and engrossing. He professes to be a politician (only) and explains many of his meetings, discussions, jail time, etc. He describes his meeting with Clinton and Blair in great detail, often hour by hour, and often explains the actions of many people working with him on various negotiations. Beyond that I think you should read the book. It is his view of a complicated subject whether you agree with him or not, and it is an excellent book. Adams's path towards a political solution, as opposed to more of the same, has been a key ingredient to peace in Northern Ireland. Good book: 5 stars.

The last few years have seen the end of a campaign of violence in Ireland that claimed nearly 4000 lives. Few can claim more credit for this achievement than the author of this work. The book makes clear that he remains totally committed to the peace process as he has been ever since he decided to start calling it that, and to dealing with the challenges and difficulties which the British present. Most remarkably what comes across is the frank acceptance of past mistakes and of the hurt and pain they have caused, and of those mistakes he may regrettably have to make in the future and for which he will be no less sorry. In spite of the horrors of the past 30 years, Adams is a man ready to forgive.

This book begins with the hunger strikes of 1980-1981 and ends with the Good Friday Agreement of 1992, as seen by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. It also goes over events during that period - the beginnings of secret negotiations with the British, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Gibraltar executions, the initial ceasefire, support for the peace process from the USA as well as a country that had just had a peaceful settlement after years of fighting, South Africa, bad faith from the British, and finally the Good Friday Agreement.Aside from going over the history, he details the negotation back-and-forth minutiae - sometimes going into too much detail about tactical political maneuvering by the various parties. He also includes humorous anecdotes like how during the Good Friday agreement negotiations, the Sinn Fein representatives went out of their way to be extra nice to the unionist representatives, who wouldn't speak to them, always holding open doors, smiling, saying hello in such a "lovefest" of niceness that the unionists eventually complained.What I found particularly interesting was his discussion of the RTE and BBC censorship of Sinn Fein, and the effect that this had on people in England and the 26 counties perception. He discusses the gap between republicans and loyalists throughout, his earlier work has some insightful reflections on this as well. Gone is the young idealistic man of "Before the Dawn", in this book he is an older man, a tactically sharp politician who was smart enough to get rid of some of the harmful archaic dogmatic blockades of republicanism (like not running candidates in the 26 counties), and who is at the vanguard of a new republican strategic gamble - success via peaceful politics.

This book is a great learning tool for those who would like to know the history of the troubles in Ireland. This book offers insight into a man and an organization that are often misrepresented. I recommend this book to all of those who are sympatric with the Irish fight for self government and for those who wish to learn more. The least you can walk away with from reading this book is that Adams and his supporters never give up and continue to struggle for what every person deserves peace