Before the Dawn: An Autobiography

“In this compelling memoir of his early life, the president of Sinn Féin . . . recalls the development of the modern ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland” (Kirkus).

Gerry Adams was the president of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Amy, for more than thirty years. In this autobiography of his early life, he shares a personal account of the political unrest and violence of the 1970s and 80s. He opens up about his imprisonment, secret talks with the British government, his leadership role in Sinn Féin, and the tragic hunger strike by imprisoned IRA prisoners in 1981.

Born in 1948, Adams vividly recalls growing up in the working-class Ballymurphy district of West Belfast, where he became involved in the civil rights campaign in the late 1960s. When the unionist regime responded to the protests with violence, the situation exploded into conflict. Adams recounts his growing radicalization, his relationship with the IRA, and the British use of secret courts to condemn republicans.

Adams was a political prisoner who spent a total of five years in the notorious Long Kesh prison camp. Though he opposed the hunger strike, Adams was instrumental in the mass campaign of support which saw Bobby Sands elected to British Parliament and Ciaran Doherty and Kevin Agnew elected to Irish Parliament.

First published in 1996, this edition contains a new introduction and epilogue written by the author, covering Adams’s family, Brexit, and the peace process.

© 2018 University of Notre Dame Press (Ebook): 9780268103804

Release date

Ebook: 28 February 2018