BLOODY SUNDAY: Trauma, Pain & Politics (Contemporary Irish Studies) - Tapa blanda

Pluto Press maintains its long-term coverage of Ireland with an addition to its list that analyses the effects on families of the killing of 14 men on the streets of Derry on 30 January 1972, during a civil rights march. Family members were interviewed - 24 who were siblings of those killed, and two who had lost their fathers. The research commenced around the time of the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, in 1997, and continued through to the 30th anniversary in 2002. It uncovered the long-term destructive relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and mourning that follwed these murders, for which no one has been arrested or charged. Indeed, the findings of the Widgery Tribunal, which was convened in the months immediately following Bloody Sunday to investigate the event of that day, caused a deep sense of injustice and betrayal amongst the families. They believed the truth would never come out (Spokesman)

The authors are respectively a clinical social worker who practises as a psychotherapist specialising in trauma, and a social work lecturer at Queen's specialising in mental health. However they do cover political, legal and political aspects of the event as well as the psychological repercussions. A serious and interesting book, and we are glad to see Pluto serving it up readably and for once not trying to get a quart into a pint pot (Books Ireland)

This one looks at the emotional impact on those caught up in events of the murder of thirteen protesters and on the families, friends and the local community. Both authors come from a social-work and psychotherapy background and this dominates their approach to a very worthwhile book (Books Ireland)

Of all the grave crises in Northern Ireland's history, the events of Bloody Sunday are perhaps the most notorious. The subject of an independent inquiry that is the longest and most expensive the British government has ever undertaken, this yet to be resolved issue continues to be one of the most significant events in the recent history of the Troubles.

This book tackles the subject from a new angle that covers both the political and psychological aspects of what happened. Based on extensive interviews with families whose relatives were killed by British soldiers, it is a record of the trauma that they have suffered. Setting Bloody Sunday in social, political and historical contexts, the authors examine the events of the day itself, the aftermath, and the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder, grief, mourning and storytelling.

They conclude with accounts about state and community responses to the trauma, and the impact and implications of the Saville Inquiry, which has allowed family members to express publicly their stories about the events of Bloody Sunday.