Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland - Hardcover

"A sophisticated and persuasive late-modernist political analysis that consistently draws the reader into the narratives of the author and those of the people of violence in Northern Ireland to whom he talked. . . . Simply put, this book is a feast for the intellect"-- Thomas M. Wilson, "American Anthropologist" "One of the best books to have been written on Northern Ireland. . . . A highly imagination and significant book. "Formations of Violence" is an important addition to the literature on political violence."--David E. Schmitt, "American Political Science Review"

This book traces the cultural construction of violence, body, and history in urban Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1986. The oral histories and commentary encompass events beginning with the intercommunal rioting of 1969 and terminating with the 1981 Hunger Strike in the Maze prison. It is a genetic history, a genealogical analysis of the symbolic forms, material practices, and narrative strategies through which certain types of political agency are constructed in Northern Ireland.