A distant, distorted view
Man of War Man of Peace? The Unauthorised Biography of
Gerry Adams.
By David Sharrock and Mark Devenport
Published by Macmillan
Price £16.99
In most biographies the relationship between the author
and subject evolves, often conspicuously, as the book
develops. Isaac Deutscher took this relationship to the
extreme while researching his renowned biography of
Leon Trotsky and became so obsessed with his subject
that he even began to look like him. This is definitely
not the case with David Sharrock and Mark Devenport,
who have produced this ``unauthorised biography'' of
Gerry Adams.
What is striking about the book is the lack of any
personal engagement with the subject. This doesn't mean
the authors have to like Gerry Adams. It means that
there is an essential ingredient missing from the book
- empathy - which makes the reader wonder what drove
the two journalists, other than they wanted to produce
a book that would link neatly into their work and add
to the list of publications on their respective
curricula.
Throughout the biography the authors insist that the
Gerry Adams you see is not the Gerry Adams you get,
with the implication that he is not a man to be
trusted. Their evidence is provided by such impartial
observers of the republican movement as Seán
O'Callaghan and Kevin Myers, together with ``security''
sources, to give their argument credibility. Their
fixation on this theme becomes apparent at an early
stage in the biography: it inhibits a fuller
exploration of the life and personality of their
subject and makes the argument frequently tedious.
Given the authors' hostility towards Adams, it is
questionable whether they could ever achieve a broad
and unblinkered portrayal of their subject. Their
account of his role in the movement is frequently
disparaging and their tone is often arrogant, bordering
on offensive at times.
Such is Sharrock and Devenport's enmity toward their
subject and republican politics that it makes them
begrudging of the movement's successes and leads to the
formulation of assertions which are, at best,
simplistic and, at worst, ridiculous. The claim that
republicanism has practically come full circle, back to
the politics of the 1960s, is a case in point.
To the authors' credit, the book is well researched and
provides a fairly detailed account of the political
developments over the past thirty years. However,
sizeable parts of the biography are dominated by their
recount of events rather than the subject's role in
those events; it is in these chapters that we lose
sight of Gerry Adams.
What does the biography reveal about the subject that
is essentially new? Very little, I would argue. Those
who are genuinely interested in Gerry Adams's life
would be better informed by reading his autobiography:
Before the Dawn. The author's hostility towards their
subject makes this book too one-sided to qualify as an
accurate and engaging portrayal of Gerry Adams.
By Tom Hartley
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