Rewriting The Troubles Av Patrick Anderson

<p>In this timely and meticulously researched book, Patrick Anderson compares and contrasts Algeria’s anti-colonial struggle for independence with the republican campaign to dismantle Britain’s colonial legacy. Comparing the French and British armies, the IRA and ALN, loyalists and OAS ‘counter-terrorists’, Anderson dissects, with devastating effect, the approach of ‘constitutional’ politicians and the respective media portrayals in an analogy that for critics will be too close for comfort.</p><p>About the book, historian Dr Brian Feeney, in the <em>Irish News</em>, said, ‘Unionists, including academics, have been aware of the striking analogies between Algeria and the north for decades: they all reject the uncanny similarities as dangerous… It’s easy to see why… Accepting any analogy or similarity means accepting that the north is illegal, a temporary arrangement, and that Britain will eventually leave Ireland as the French did Algeria.’</p>