Killing Thatcher: The IRA, the Manhunt and the Long War on the Crown

by Rory Carroll

An informal IRA survey found up to 90 percent of volunteers joined not through ideological conviction but to hit back after security force violence or harassment. They viewed violence as a legitimate response because if the state broke the law, then there was no law. There was also a youthful fascination with guns and bombs. Others joined for respect and approbation and to stand out from the ranks of the unemployed and powerless. There were, in other words, many Pat Magees.