The Hunger Strikes - Softcover

The hunger strikes of 1980/81 are often said to have changed the course of Irish history. Republican prisoners were fasting for the right to be recognised as political prisoners. The British government, led by Margaret Thatcher, refused acknowledgement. A titanic battle of wills ensued. Bobby Sands, the most famous hunger striker globally has streets named after him in France and Iran. More than 100,000 people attended his funeral, dispelling the myth that the IRA had no constituency worth addressing. Sands legacy is compounded by the fact that he was elected to the British parliament by the voters of Fermanagh and South Tyrone in April 1981, at the height of the hunger strikes. Never before all shades of Green, Orange and British opinion on the Hunger Strikes have been collected together in the same book, and woven together with an extremely well sourced narrative. Walker s book is unprecedented.

R.K. Walker has authored several books under various 'pen names' over 15 years. This is his first book under his own name. Living in Ireland several months a year for over 20 years, Walker developed contacts within both Republican and Loyalist, as well as among RUC, Army and Intelligence personnel and resolved to write his book which accurately represents the diverse viewpoints and retrospective reflections on this contentious subject.