Days of Fear: The Diary of a 1920s Hunger Striker. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.Days of Fear: The Diary of a 1920s Hunger Striker

A record of spiritual strength, suffering, and fear something all men and women serving an ideal have tasted. I pledge myself to the honour of Ireland and the lives of my comrades not to eat food or drink anything except water until all have been given prisoner-of-war treatment or are released.During the War of Independence Frank Gallagher was interned in Mountjoy where he took part in a mass hunger strike of republican prisoners demanding political status. Gallaghers remarkable diary reveals his internal conflict during the hunger strike in April 1920. He describes a double personality, one half bent on self-preservation and the other on sacrifice. On the tenth day, he almost surrendered, but what kept him resolute was shame before his fellow hunger strikers. If there were an honourable way of escape, I should be glad Im afraid to die, and Im going to die because Im afraid not to The papers will call me a hero and a martyr a miserable, frightened fool, who hadnt the courage not to die.

Frank Gallagher was born and educated in Cork. He became a journalist and short story writer, frequently writing under the pseudonyms David Hogan and Henry ONeill. He joined Sinn Féin in 1917 and after the partys victory in the 1918 General Election, he worked with Erskine Childers on the publicity staff of the first Dáil. Gallagher later became editor of the Irish Press and in 1936 was appointed deputy director of Radio Éireann. During the Emergency he headed the Irish governments Information Bureau. He died in 1962.