Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries: The Loyalist Backlash

As a teenager during the period covered by Dr. Mulvenna, I vividly recall the pressure, fear and even excitement of the early days of the Troubles. This book examines the transition of many from naive street gang members, to paramilitary volunteers and, for some, onwards to violence and often prison. The author's countless hours of interviews results in an accurate portrayal of those times, whilst providing a captivating read.

This is an important and invaluable book for anyone with an interest in understanding the conflict era of the latter half of the 20th century in the north of Ireland. The author captures the essence of what drive young loyalists to join paramilitaries. The book also provides a clear insight into what is, up to now, an underrepresented aspect of the conflict era. It is well written and maticulously researched, making it an enjoyable and informative, must read.

This is a well researched and written book that really explains how the ‘Troubles’ developed from the perspective of young men in loyalist areas, particularly in Belfast. Well worth a read.

Books about the Troubles have generally exhausted everything we know about the conflict. So it's to Dr. Mulvenna's credit that he manages to explore a subculture who have been relegated to an anecdote about the origin of the word "spide" (an NI word for chav).Featuring new interviews, the book makes the case that the Tartans were very much at the forefront of loyalist actions in the late 60's/early 70's and also fitted the mould with other teenage gangs in the UK, with their emphasis on fashion and music (the revelation that most wanted hair like Marc Bolan made me chuckle).On this angle, the author is in solid ground. He takes a group who have long been written off and gives them a voice of their own. While you may not always agree with (and may be horrified by) what they say, at least there's an honesty which isn't filtered through a desire for mass consumption or for people to sympathise with them.He also sheds some interesting light on John McKeague, more so than the camp psychopath that Martin Dillon portrays him as. I would have liked more information on him, but I imagine most involved with him do not wish to discuss him due to his alleged links with Kincora (which are disputed by the author).However, I have one major problem with the book.Dr.Mulvenna misses the boat a few times when it comes to tying events together to demonstrate how violence begets violence and led to a further spiralling of the security situation in Northern Ireland.Sometimes, it feels disingenuous (the Balmoral Showroom Bombing is noted, quite rightly, as being an event which not only drove young men and women to join loyalist paramilitaries and furthered the siege mentality felt by unionists/loyalists. However, there is no mention that the bomb is regarded as being retaliation for the bombing of McGurk's Bar a week earlier, which also drove people to join republican paramilitaries and furthered the siege mentality felt by nationalists/republicans).Sometimes it is offered up uncritically (the tale of Bernard Watt's funeral sickened me, but the section ends with a "celebratory" poem about one of the protagonists).While I am aware that authors who research and write about various classes/subcultures of people are going to be accused (one way or the other) of either not maintaining a proper distance or being too distant, I feel that Dr. Mulvenna can, to the untrained eye, come across as being uncritical of these violent actions which cost innocent people their lives (although I doubt he personally holds these views).Still worth reading, and I look forward to reading more books by Dr. Mulvenna.

Very good read 😀

An essential read for anyone interested in culture, gang evolution, history, politics or Northern Ireland in general. Fantastic research resource

Very informative and insightful read, fleshed out a few things I didn't know about my home city., More will come in the future from Gareth Mulvenna, and I can't wait.

Interesting book.