Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Ambush at Central Park:
Snitches get….shot in a totally different country.
Quick synopsis:
The story of the only IRA sanctioned assassination on U.S. soil.
Fun Fact for Non-History People:
In Cork, Ireland, a favorite activity was called “road bowling” and it involved cannonballs and public streets.
Fun Fact for History Nerds:
In 1921, over 630,000 New York City residents were first- or second-generation Irish Americans.
My Take on Ambush at Central Park:
Irish history can be especially difficult to understand at times. Many people know the IRA but don’t know the many splinter groups and internal turmoil. The premise of this book is pretty simple, though. The IRA didn’t like to commit violence on U.S. soil to avoid bad PR. They only sanctioned one hit, one time. The target of that hit was “Cruxy” O’Connor who got 6 of his fellow IRA members killed when he talked to the British authorities.
The book is going to be especially interesting to those with Irish ancestry, but Bulik writes it so well that anyone can enjoy it. There are a ton of universal themes and Bulik doesn’t shy away from showing how much gray area there was in the battle for Irish independence. Ironically, the ambush in the title takes up very little page count but the book does not suffer for it. All the events leading up to the assassination attempt are actually the most important parts. Was Cruxy always a spy or just a guy who got tortured into talking? Read and find out.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Fordham University Press.)
Verdict:
A really interesting read. Buy it here!
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