Living With War: A Belfast Year

Library Journal

Belfrage ( Freedom Summer) reports on a year she spent in Belfast, during which she talked to people representing most of the groups involved, and those trying to stay uninvolved, in the Northern Ireland unrest. Her experiences may usefully be compared with those of Dervla Murphy, an Irishwoman who recounted a visit to Northern Ireland in 1976 in A Place Apart (LJ 7/79). It is striking how little has changed, except for the virtual disappearance of the so-called ``peace people.'' Yet both writers find the people admirable and reach a similar conclusion. Murphy says ``although it should be a gloomy place it is not.'' Belfrage cites polls that show 39 percent in Northern Ireland say they are ``very happy'' and concludes that the problem is to ``make peace exciting.'' For most public and academic libraries. John Moran, SUNY Coll. at Fredonia Lib.