Rebel Hearts - by Kevin Toolis (Paperback)

About the Book

A detailed and revealing portrait of the world of the IRA, "Rebel Hearts" explains and uncovers the roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland through a series of profiles of IRA men. "As romantic as it is violent . . . Toolis has captured its pulse in prose that often approached poetry".--"San Francisco Chronicle".

Book Synopsis

For ten years Kevin Toolis investigated the lives of the IRA soldiers who wage a secret battle against the British State. His journeys took him from the back kitchens of Belfast, where men joked while making two-thousand-pound bombs, to prisons for interviews with men serving life sentences, and to the graveyards where mourners weep. Each chapter explores a world where history, faith, and human savagery determine life and death. At once moving and harrowing, Rebel Hearts is the most authoritative and insightful book ever written on the IRA.

Review Quotes

"A powerful book, passionate and compelling, beautifully composed and written." --The Christian Science Monitor

"An intimate and knowledgeable portrait of the IRA." --The New York Times

"Combining a reporter's eye for anecdotes with a sophisticated appreciation of the politics and personalities at play in Europe's longest-running conflict, Toolis has created a narrative that is both entertaining and illuminating." --The Boston Globe

"A profoundly personal and chilling close-up of the IRA and its effects on those it wounds and is wounded by. A riveting read." --Booklist

"Small societies with big troubles often spawn remarkable books, and this one on the IRA by Toolis, a British journalist of Irish descent, is one of the best." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Kevin Toolis, a journalist and screenwriter, was born in Edinburgh of Irish parents. Rebel Hearts is his first book.