Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP

Great Hatred is a gripping investigation into one of Irish history's greatest mysteries, revealing the true story behind one of the most significant political assassinations to ever have been committed on British soil. The book is both forensic and a page-turner, and ultimately deeply tragic for Ireland as much as for the murder victim.

Format: Hardback
Length: 464 pages
Publication date: 26 May 2022
Publisher: Faber & Faber

The Irish Top 10 Bestseller

A gripping investigation into one of Irish history's greatest mysteries, Great Hatred reveals the true story behind one of the most significant political assassinations to ever have been committed on British soil.

Heart-stopping. . . The book is both forensic and a page-turner, and ultimately deeply tragic, for Ireland as much as for the murder victim.

MICHAEL PORTILLO

Gripping from start to finish. McGreevy turns a forensic mind to a political assassination that changed the course of history, uncovering a trove of unseen evidence in the process.

ANITA ANAND, author of The Patient Assassin

Invaluable.

IRISH TIMES

Intelligent and insightful.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

On 22 June 1922, Sir Henry Wilson - the former head of the British army and one of those credited with winning the First World War - was shot and killed by two veterans of that war turned IRA members in what was the most significant political murder to have taken place on British soil for more than a century. His assassins were well-educated and pious men. One had lost a leg during the Battle of Passchendaele. Shocking British society to the core, the shooting caused consternation in the government and almost restarted the conflict between Britain and Ireland that had ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty just five months earlier. Wilson's assassination triggered the Irish Civil War, which cast the darkest of shadows over the new Irish State.

Who ordered the killing? Why did two English-born Irish nationalists kill an Irish-born British imperialist? What was Wilson's role in the Northern Ireland government and the violence which matched the intensity of the Troubles fifty years later? Why would Michael Collins, who risked his life to sign a peace treaty with Great Britain, want one of its most senior officials assassinated?

Great Hatred is a meticulously researched and compelling account of one of the most enigmatic and controversial events in Irish history. It sheds new light on the complex web of political, religious, and personal motivations that drove the men who carried out the assassination, and it provides a fresh perspective on the events that led to the Irish Civil War and the Troubles that followed.

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Irish history, politics, and society. It is a gripping and informative tale that will leave readers with a deeper understanding of the complex and often tragic events that shaped the course of Irish history.

Weight: 722g
Dimension: 242 x 163 x 44 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780571372805
Edition number: Main