The Bombing of Dublin's North Strand: The Untold Story - Softcover

Kevin C. Kearns

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0717146448 ISBN 13: 9780717146444

Publisher: Gill Books, 2010

Synopsis

On a gloriously starry night four bombs fell, the last and most devastating at precisely 2:05 a.m. on 31 May. There was a thunderous explosion and the earth quaked. Tremors were felt as far away as Enniskerry and Mullingar. Panic and pandemonium reigned in a "city seized with fear".

Destruction was astonishing-homes and shops in the North Strand were largely demolished, 2,250 buildings in the city suffered some bomb damage, over forty people were killed, about 100 seriously injured, many more wounded. Hospitals and morgues filled within hours. Almost 2,000 people were rendered homeless refugees. It would later be determined that in terms of destructive performance a monstrous "perfect bomb" had done the deed.

For two-thirds of a century, no book was written on what the Evening Herald proclaimed a "Night of Horror". Later called a "seismic event" in Dublin’s history. Finally, near the end of the century both the Irish Military Archive and Dublin City Archive declassified their documents on the bombing – some stamped "Secret" for sixty years. At last, the theories and myths long surrounding the mysterious incident could be examined in the light of real evidence. But the heart of a book on so human a tragedy is the oral historical testimony of survivors, rescuers and observers who provide graphic eye-witness accounts.

This is a narrative social history of immense human drama. An on-the-scene account of calamity, terror, heroism and survival. And a mystery lingering long thereafter. This is the untold tale of a great historical event and human tragedy that has long needed telling.

Praise for Kevin Kearns unique set of oral histories of Dublin

(2014) The Legendary Lugs Branigan: Ireland’s Most Famed Garda

'A revealing portrait not just of a passionate and dedicated public figure, but also of a society undergoing great and constant change. ' The Irish Independent

'A tale of extraordinary courage and compassion. ' Ireland’s Own

(2011) Ireland’s Arctic Siege: The Big Freeze of 1947

'This story might have come from some Polar Expedition. It is almost unbelievable that such conditions could exist in Ireland. 'The Irish Times

(2009) The Bombing of Dublin’s North Strand, 1941: The Untold Story

'What shines through is the courage and goodness of ordinary people, untrained for such catastrophe, in their attempts to save and help their fellow Dubliners. ' The Irish Times

(1994) Dublin Tenement Life: An Oral History

'Among the finest books ever written about Dublin. ' The Sunday Tribune

'This is truly an admirable book, capturing echoes of a vanished world and vanished assumptions, vanished pieties, vanished aspirations. It is only by reading this book that I was enabled to re-imagine the society which the respondents recalled to Kevin Kearns during what must have been many hundreds of hours of patient interviewing. ' The Irish Times

'This book confirmed what I had always believed: Dublin in the rare old times was a rat-infested, overcrowded, unhygienic battle for the one-third of the capital’s heroic population who lived in one-room – in the worst slums in Europe … This book will long stand as the definitive social history of Ireland’s gulags, where the poor were herded together in conditions worse than animals and will hopefully serve as further inspiration to those who still campaign for decent housing for all our citizens. ' Joe Duffy, The Sunday Press

About this title

About the Author

Kevin C. Kearns PhD is a social historian and professor emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado. He has made thirty-eight research trips to Ireland, a number of which were funded by the National Geographic Society. Of his ten books on Dublin, five have been bestsellers, most notably Dublin Tenement Life, which was number 1 on the Irish Times bestseller list for many weeks. He now resides in the coastal village of Camden, Maine.

Edition details

• Publisher: Gill Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0717146448
• ISBN 13: 9780717146444
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288