Decoding the IRA

by Thomas Mahon, James J. Gillogly

Historian Tom Mahon, with the aid of cryptologist and code breaker James J. Gillogly, has spent the past few years breaking the IRA's secret communications code, used to pass messages back and forth between Ireland and America from the 1920s until the 1930s - and the results are explosive. From discussions about matters to considerations of deals with the USSR and China, the IRA letters delve into just about every matter conceivable for a paramilitary organization. Some of the ideas are discussions about money and the likelihood of infiltration but others, like the proposal to source nerve gas for use in Ireland, are a dangerous and unnerving insight into how the organization saw itself and conducted its business. With the eye of a historian and the tools of a professional code breaker, Thomas Mahon and James J. Gillogly have together created a wonderful and engrossing read. ""Mahon's books. . . shows the human dimension to the story."" Irish Echo ""General audiences with a love for Irish history may find these relationships fascinating."" Book News ""Contains the useful historic material, confirming many nuggets which had previous existence at the level of reminiscence and lore.""-Irish Literary Supplement

348 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2009

Reviews

[Breandán O Conchúir · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Unique insight into the IRA in their own words, and valuable for anyone interested in the history of the IRA after the defeat of republicanism in the Civil War.

The Authors errors on background information in places while minor take away from the text. For example the Author concludes that the lack of the letter h in some irish words reveals a lack of knowledge of Irish by the writer when anyone familar with Irish knows the letter h was not commonly used in Irish spelling as it doesn't exist in the Irish alphabet, instead a dot over a letter denotes a h sound in traditional irish writing.

At Another point he wrongly refers to Dan Breen as the leader at Soloheadbeg, again a minor mistake given the them of the book but one that sticks with the reader.

Further more a clear anti repunblican position clearly comes through his conclusions, particularly his contradictory point that the decline in IRA members is evidence of a clear decline despite making the point himself that the IRA needed a more streamlined smaller organisation for its new role post 1923.

All in all a welcome adition to literature on the period but a book that is only benefical when read with other books on the period

[ParisianIrish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The covers the period of of history where the IRA was not really active. The more important and prominent members had left soon after the civil war and joined up with Fianna Fáil. What was left was a shell of an organization made up mainly of fanatics and dreamers, inexperienced in waging a proper campaign and out of their depth politically. The IRA at the time, was considered by the general population to be past its sell by date, made up of local hard-m’en with no relevance in an Ireland that sought to move on from the civil war and “gun politics”.
What this book shows are the fanciful ideas, the complete mis-interpretation of the political scenario in the North and South and the almost comical paramilitary actives the IRA were trying to run.
The book does not show any real shocking revelations but more so an organization trying to find its place in the modern Ireland. Circumstances would change in the late 60’s/ early 70’s when the Northern troubles would start and organized would again split into the Officials and the Provisionals. The book is an okay read if you want to look at that period from between the civil war up to the start of the Northern Irish troubles.