Paisley: From Demagogue to Democrat?

click here for more details, find new or used items	Ed Moloney Our price £13.99 New from £13.99 Used from £58.34 Pages: 562 (Paperback) ISBN: 1842233246 Pub: Poolbeg Press Pub date: 2008-02-26 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1981

Reader Reviews:

Old and hard to find - but an excellent read (1/1 people found this helpful)

This is a really good, muck-raking biography of Ian Paisley. The authors are well-clued up local journo's who paint an intimate picture of Big Ian, with lots of fascinating detail (e.g. How Big Ian served queen and country in the dark days of WW2 by skipping off to the front-line in er,...Wales.).

Big Ian shows up as a none-too-bright personality who is usually the front man for more able and thoughtful brains (Desmond Boal in the 70's, Peter Robinson in the 90's). He is however clearly a charismatic personality who has always operated as an outsider from mainstream loyalist, orange and unionist bodies. He has been very successful in assembling his own independent power-base and it is clear he is loathed among UUP circles.

Far from the famous image of the ranting, not-an-inch mouthpiece Big Ian has actually pogo-sticked a fair bit around the Irish political landscape. The book outlines his astonishing dealings with loyalist paramilitaries in the late 70's (and makes a total mockey of his denunciations of 'terrorists'). More surprisingly it details his flirting with nationalism and the 'Dublin infidel' at the start of the 70's.

Whilst well dated now, I would thoughrouly recommend this hard to find book to anyone with an active interest in Irish politics.

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