The story of a single family during the Irish Revolution,Four Killings is a book about political murder,and the powerful hunger for land and the savagery it can unleash.'A vivid and chilling narrative... Confronts uncomfortable questions that still need answering'Roy Foster'Marries acute storytelling skills with scholarship,fortified throughout by the author's wry sense of humour'Michael Heney'Narrative history,told through a unique prism'Irish Sunday Independent'Dungan knows his history; he also knows how to tell a story... A gem of a book'RTé Culture'Sober and intelligent... Dungan does a fine job of showing that little people can make history too'Business PostMyles Dungan's family was involved in four violent deaths between 1915 and 1922. Jack Clinton,an immigrant small farmer from County Meath,was murdered in the remote and lawless Arizona territory by a powerful rancher's hired assassin; three more died in Ireland,and each death is compellingly reconstructed in this extraordinary book. What unites these deaths is the violence that engulfed Ireland during the war of independence,but also the passions unleashed by arguments over the ownership of the soil.In focusing on one family,Four Killings offers an original perspective on this still controversial period: a prism through which the moral and personal costs of violence,and the elemental conflict over land,come alive in surprising ways.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLCISBN: 9781800244856Number of pages: 336Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
Dungan knows his history; he also knows how to tell a story... A gem of a book'A vivid and chilling narrative... Confronts uncomfortable questions that still need answering'Sober and intelligent... Dungan does a fine job of showing that little people can make history too'Narrative history,told through a unique prismMarries acute storytelling skills with scholarship,fortified throughout by the author's wry sense of humourAn engrossing account of the intimacies of political violence through the meticulous excavation of an Irish family's entanglements with struggles over land and nation across two continentsNot just a riveting story of the fortunes of an extended family,but an object lesson in the interrogation of changing versions of history over timeThe book is written in a lively and flowing style,and the selection of black and white family photos provides a fascinating peek into the lives of those whose stories are portrayedThe story,told skilfully and coherently,holds the attention throughout and draws attention to an often-neglected aspect of the independence struggle - land hunger. The killings are treated sensitively,as are the consequences for all concerned
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