Member Reviews
Amie G, Reviewer
John Crawley is quite a guy.
His life reads like a fictionalized version of one man's life.
United States Marine Corps member, chef, IRA soldier, gun runner, friend to IRA bigwigs and famous gangsters, and so much more.
This book is definitely interesting and worth a read. Anyone who is interested in IRA history should definitely pick up a copy of this book.
4 out of 5 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
*** Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.
Reviewer 595551
No wonder the "Provos" -- the men of the Provisional IRA -- accomplished so little in the Troubles of the 1970s. Judging by Jack Crawley's experience, they were completely shambolic, having no interest whatever in his four years as a US Marine "recon" operative, the equivalent of a Navy SEAL. They preferred to gather their combat wisdom on the wing, in myths told by one another, believing for example that there was no point in shooting at a British helicopter because it was bulletproof. I had personal experience of this in my own family: Dad was a member of the Old IRA that fought for Irish freedom from 1916 to 1921, and then as a "diehard" against the Free State government in the civil war that followed. And he, like Crawley's associates, mistrusted all official dogma, relying instead on what he heard from his peers. That made perfect sense when you grew up in a colony whose newspapers and schools are controlled by a foreign government, but not so well in a free country. Worse, betrayal has been a constant in Irish rebellions through the centuries. (It's no accident that the best novel about about the Troubles of the 1920s is Liam O'Flaherty's 'The Informer'.) Crawley is betrayed first when he brings a boatload of weapons to Ireland, and again when he sets out to bomb the power stations that supply electricity to London. In the end, he spends most of his years with the Provos one prison or another. He was freed in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 with very little to show for his youth.
