TOP TEN SUMMER READS

July 12, 2011.

CAHIR O' DOHERTY & BERNICE MALONE, Irish Voice Reporters

"My American Struggle For Justice in Northern Ireland"

by Father Sean McManus

Autobiography / Political

For over forty years Father Sean McManus has been at the heart of the Irish American campaign to put pressure on the British government concerning injustice in the North.

For years a lone voice on Capitol Hill, he became Britain’s “nemesis on the premises” when he founded the Irish National Caucus in one of the darkest years of the Troubles in 1974.

But how does a mild mannered priest, who grew up in Kinawley, County Fermanagh, become involved in American politics to promote the cause of Ireland? And how does he become so successful at it?

McManus forced through Congressional action to stop the sale of American weapons to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC); he crafted the McBride Principles that led to fair employment practices in the reluctant North; and all the while he was he was opposed not just by the British, but often by the Irish governments too – and by pro-British elements within the Republican party.

Considering the challenges he faced and the lessons it taught him about the quest for justice in the North, the man who has been helping to craft the agenda for Irish America over the past thirty years has written a compelling inside view of the pursuit of peace and justice for Ireland"

END.