Historian, Thomas Mahon, With the aid of a former FBI code breaker, Jim Gillogly, has spent the past few years breaking the IRA's secret communications code, used to pass messages back and forth between Ireland and America from the 1920s until th e1960s, the results are explosive.From discussions about mundane matters to considerations of deals with the USSR and China, the IRA letters delve into just about every matter concievable for a terrorist organisation. Some of the ideas are harebrained or cracked but some like the proposal to source gas for use in Ireland are dangerous and unnerving.With the eye of a historian and the tools of a professional code breaker, Thomas and Jim have together created a wonderful and engrossing read.

Decoding the IRA: the true story of the Irish Republican Army's international network of violence and espionage

From espionage in America, to plotting a poison gas attack on Dublin - this "fascinating" history of the IRA is based on the breaking of the organization's secret code. Decoding the IRA is an intriguing and unsettling account of IRA secrets, hidden for over 80 years; including its alliance with the Soviet Union and a conspiracy to aid Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese nationalists. The book uncovers operations ranging from the ingenious to the bizarre.

Decoding the IRA provides a unique insight into what was one of the most innovative and important revolutionary organizations of the twentieth century, a group that created an international network (extending from New York to Moscow) decades before al-Qaeda. It reveals for the first time the IRA's espionage for the Soviet Union - threatening the security of the United States. This book changes our understanding of the IRA and its methods.

Codebreaker and co-author, James Gillogly, gives a step-by step account of his technique in breaking the IRA's code and in revealing the contents of hundreds of secret documents.

Meticulous research and lucid writing place the documents in their historical context and paint a comprehensive picture of the IRA. Several of the secret documents are reproduced in the book.

Authors: Tom Mahon is a historian and author who has researched the IRA for over a decade. A graduate of University College Dublin, he divides his time between America and Ireland. James J Gillogly is a cryptologist based in Los Angeles, who has solved several of the world's most famous codes. He has served as a codebreaking consultant to the FBI.

Reviews:

Jaw-droppingly fascinating - The Sunday Tribune (Dublin)

Fascinating - Books Ireland

Absolutely engrossing - The Cryptogram

A literally unique insight into the thinking and activities of the IRA of the 1920s and 1930s, warts, mustard gas and all - Tim Pat Coogan

Gillogly's explanations...give great insight into how codebreaking works in the real world - The Mathematical Association of America