'The book is to be credited for looking beyond radicals to consider the experience of what the author terms the average southerner. There is a real mastery of the press material in evidence.'
British Association for Irish Studies Book Prize judging panel
'There is a danger of making sweeping generalisations about reason replacing emotion and a partitionist mindset taking hold again quickly in the Republic as the Troubles deepened. ... Brian Hanley, in his engaging book, has argued for a more nuanced assessment. There was considerable diversity on the question of the North in the mainstream media in the Republic, as well as an ongoing, strong identification with the idea of a united Ireland even after years of sustained violence.'
Diarmaid Ferriter, author of The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics
'The great value of a book like is that it replaces the twenty-twenty vision of hindsight with an examination of how things actually looked at the time. ... Hanley is clear eyed in teasing out the ambiguities and ambivalences of attitudes during the period in question. ... Skilfully wrought, shaped by assiduous research and intelligent analysis.'
Saothar: Journal of Irish Labour History
'Brian Hanley has written a valuable study of how the first 10 years of the Troubles affected the Republic. ... He has compiled a wide-ranging examination of many areas including the Fianna Fail and coalition governments, smaller radical groups or micro-parties, some with influence that exceeded their membership, as well as trade unions, sport, the media and popular culture. In it we hear voices from across Irish society, from all shades of class, religion and political opinion. ... A study of a complex issue that defies trite analysis or divisions.'
Niamh Purseil, The Irish Times
'Historian Brian Hanley has done lovely work on reports and documents, then and later, on the flight of northerners across the border 1969-75. Hanley has also found warm, even loving support, people from the deepest south taking miserable, terrified northerners, mostly from Belfast, into their homes. He has used so many records from the time, radio and television as well as print, that the effect is documentary.'
Fionnuala O'Connor, The Irish News
'The impact of the Troubles on the Republic during the 1970s in terms of public reaction has been infrequently studies. Brian Hanley has done an exceptional job in trying to fill the gap.'
History Ireland
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