Edward Burke Book order

At 1.20 a.m. on 24 March 1922, five men, four dressed in British police uniforms, broke into the North Belfast house of Owen McMahon, a well-known Catholic publican. They fatally shot McMahon, four of his sons and Eddie McKinney, an employee of the family. Nobody was ever charged for these ruthless and cold-blooded murders. In retaliation for these and other Belfast murders, the IRA assassinated the former head of the British Army, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, and a subsequent British ultimatum to the Irish government sparked the first salvos of the Irish Civil War days later. The reluctance of the unionist Belfast government to pursue loyalist killers drove the rift between Northern Ireland's two main communities even deeper, laying the foundations for the Troubles at the end of the twentieth century. Over 100 years later, Edward Burke has expertly uncovered the identity of the McMahons' likely murderer. This is a riveting cold-case investigation that invokes the smoke-filled streets of Belfast during the cataclysmic violence of 1920- 22, and explores how the ramifications of the McMahon killings are still being felt to this day.

The book explores the lasting impact of loyalism in the Protestant communities of Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan, which were excluded from Northern Ireland in 1920. It delves into how intergenerational memories of violent displacement have influenced militant loyalist politics and paramilitarism during the Troubles, highlighting the complex relationship between history and identity within these communities.

Turning his back on the excesses of London in the credit boom, Edward Burke sets off on a year-long journey of self-discovery, to learn from some of the greatest masters of martial arts. His search for growth through the fighting arts will take him to the academy of Bruce Lee's most famous student, a traditional dojo in Japan, ancient Buddhist temples and a scorching capoeira roda in Brazil. But his greatest challenge will be as the live-in student of the legendary Chiba Sensei - Japanese swordsman, Zen monk and master of aikido. Far from the rarefied world of high finance, he soon finds himself scrubbing the floors of Chiba Sensei's dojo, bruised, scared and exhausted from long days of punishing training. But in the intensity of the training and the formidable presence of his fearsome, charismatic master there may just be something which will make this odd pilgrimage worthwhile. Told with a wry humor, woven with insights, and populated with colorful characters, this is the joyful tale of a year of pain, suffering and menial labor, undertaken for the love of movement and the privilege of learning from the masters.