Cage Eleven

Long before he became President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams was a civil rights activist who led sit-ins, marches and protests in Northern Ireland. Along with hundreds of other men, Adams was interned on the Maidstone prison ship and in Long Kesh prison – without charge or trial – during the 1970s for his political activities. Cage Eleven is his own account – sometimes passionate, often humorous – of life in Long Kesh. Written while Adams was a prisoner, the pieces were smuggled out for publication.

This updated edition includes a new introduction, cartoons drawn by prisoners at the time and some never-before-published photographs.

'This book is important, not only because it comes from a key player in the Irish political scene, but also because it offers a unique insight into the experience that shaped the consciousness and attitudes of the present generation of Irish republicans – the experience of internment. It offers, too, an unrivalled representation of the resilience and humour that were as much a part of the life of the political prisoner as the adherence to a set of political ideals.' Irish Herald