Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

paperback, 560 pages

Published Feb. 25, 2020 by Anchor.

ISBN:
978-0-307-27928-6
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5 stars (3 reviews)

Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.

Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people …

2 editions

Review of 'Say Nothing' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

“Who should be held accountable for a shared history of violence? It was a question that was dogging Northern Ireland as a whole.”

“Outrage is conditioned not by the nature of the atrocity but by the affiliation of the victim and the perpetrator. Should the state be accorded more leniency because, legally speaking, it has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force? Or, conversely, should we hold soldiers and cops to a higher standard than paramilitaries?”

Really, really incredible narrative non-fiction. Incredibly difficult to put down, and I found myself continuing to talk about this book and think about it whenever I wasn't reading it. I was pleasantly surprised by how neutral this perspective was, seeing as the IRA is quite a divisive topic, and very impressed by the breadth of 40+ years of history condensed into an easy to read, easy to follow format that stuck with me …

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