The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has been epic in its scale and implications.
This is the story of how it came about and of the hopes and suspicions
which surround it, told from a uniquely personal point of view.
Twenty-one wounded survivors and relatives of the dead describe the
campaign which led to the establishment of the Inquiry under Lord
Saville. They reveal their bitterness at the 'whitewash' of the first
inquiry under Lord Chief Justice Widgery, and describe the frustrations
and elations of their long struggle to force the British Government to
launch a new search for the truth. The relatives comment sharply on
Saville's performance, and on the attitudes of British and Irish
politicians, the media and an array of celebrity lawyers. They reflect
on whether soldiers and leading politicians should now be prosecuted for
murder, and discuss whether the outcome of the Inquiry is likely to
hinder or enhance the peace process. Will the truth about Bloody Sunday
raise more ghosts than it sets to rest? This is the story of the longest
legal proceedings in British or Irish history in the raw words of those
most intimately involved. What they have to say puts a new focus on the
significance of State atrocities in shaping perceptions of the past and
aspirations for the future in Ireland.
