Great Hatred

THE IRISH TOP 10 BESTSELLER A gripping investigation into one of Irishhistory's greatest mysteries, Great Hatred reveals the true story behind one of the mostsignificant political assassinations to ever have been committed on Britishsoil."Heart-stopping. . . The book is both forensic and a page-turner, and ultimately deeplytragic, for Ireland as much as for the murder victim." - MICHAEL PORTILLO"Gripping from start to finish. McGreevy turns a forensicmind 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 INDEPENDENTOn 22 June 1922, Sir Henry Wilson - the former head of the British army and oneof those credited with winning the First World War - was shot and killed by twoveterans of that war turned IRA members in what was the most significantpolitical 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 theBattle of Passchendaele. Shocking British society to the core, the shooting causedconsternation in the government and almost restarted the conflict betweenBritain and Ireland that had ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty just five monthsearlier. Wilson's assassination triggered the Irish Civil War, which cast the>Who ordered the killing? Why did two English-born Irish nationalists kill anIrish-born British imperialist? What was Wilson's role in the Northern Irelandgovernment and the violence which matched the intensity of the Troubles fiftyyears later? Why would Michael Collins, who risked his life to sign a peacetreaty with Great Britain, want one of its most famous soldiers dead, and howdid the Wilson assassination lead to Collins' tragic death in an ambush two>Drawing upon newly released archival material and never-before-seendocumentation, Great Hatred is a revelatory work that sheds light on a moment that changed thecourse of Irish and British history for ever.