Learning behind Bars: How IRA Prisoners Shaped the Peace Process in Ireland

"Learning behind Bars is an interesting, informative and scholarly work."

Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times

"..with its chronological panorama, and the geographical and organisational range of its interview partners, Reinisch’s book offers a valuable perspective on the experiences of republican prisoners at the periphery of the movement… his book is of undoubted value for scholars of the Northern Ireland conflict and, more broadly, for analysts of incarceration and the internal dynamics of militant social movements."

Jack Hepworth, St Catherine’s College, Oxford, Oral History Journal

"This is an important account of the role of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners who were imprisoned on both sides of the Irish border who were instrumental in starting the critical debate that ultimately contributed to resolving the Northern Ireland conflict through the 1994 Provisional (IRA) ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998."

Joshua Sinai, Perspectives on Terrorism

"Drawing on the experience of learners and employing a framework which enables generalisations to be made from the particularities of Ireland, Dieter Reinisch makes a powerful case for the value of education in prisons for prisoners, prisons, and the wider society."

Daniel Weinbren, Open University, Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

“An important contribution to the existing historiography of the conflict, Reinisch’s decision to discuss both the similarities and differences of Irish republican prisoners on both sides of the border makes for a compelling narrative.” Robert Collins, University of Limerick, Irish Historical Studies

"The rich and vivid interview material in Dieter Reinisch's book will be of great interest and value to all those wanting to understand this complex, important phenomenon."

Richard English, author of Does Terrorism Work? A History

"Methodologically thoughtful, historically rigorous – combining memories of Irish prisoners with British official documents, letters, and journalistic accounts – and deeply humane, this book brings us a unique understanding of the history of Ireland: a testimony of the daily life of incarcerated people as embodied subjects who in spite of reclusion influenced a political process of struggle and finally peace."

Luisa Passerini, Professor Emerita of History, European University Institute, Florence

"Learning behind Bars offers a thoughtful historical reconstruction of how, on both sides of the Irish border, republican prisoners’ processes of political self-education shaped first the republican movement and then brought to an end the conflict in the North. An essential read for those seeking to better understand recent Irish history and how republican militants behind bars lived and became political subjects inside and outside the prisons."

Lorenzo Bosi, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social and Political Science, Scuola Normale Superiore