Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War

'Willingness to find common ground and move forward through remembrance has clearly played a role in the imperfect but essentially stable peace process. By writing an accessible and even-handed account of the wartime experience of the men of West Belfast, Richard Grayson has made a small but valuable contribution to that process.' - History Ireland

'That rare thing, a book that says something new about the Irish experience of World War One. The book deserves a wide audience and is well researched and written. The scholarship, though extensive, is lightly worn and the book is very readable. Wherever possible, the soldiers and their families speak for themselves.' - Books Ireland

In this book, Grayson takes a new tack in studying the First World War: instead of looking at the men in specific units, he began with a particular area and then looked to see where the men from that area fought. The result is this compelling story of the involvement of West Belfast's men fighting on the Western Front over the entire course of the war and of their lives post-war. This new story challenges popular perceptions of the war and explains why remembrance of the First World War remains so controversial in Belfast today. -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.