Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing is a dramatic journalist retelling of the conflict in Northern Ireland during the Troubles beginning in the late 1960s. DAMN! That stuff is all really crazy. Keefe is a really fantastic writer: he brings in so many characters over the course of many decades, weaves them in and out of the narrative, and gives them such rich characterization that it was hard to root against literal murders and terrorists…
I have read that this is a skewed, incomplete portrait of the history of Northern Ireland, particularly how it ignores the barbarism of unionist paramilitary groups; however, ignoring that, this seems to be a great jumping off point to those who want to learn about the armed struggle against the British in Ireland, colonialism, how people become radicalized, how a cultural deals with guerilla conflict, and how justice can mean a lot of different things to different people.
4/5