Love, love, love, love, love this book! My aunt described it as Ireland's Gone With the Wind. I've lent it to several people who just don't get into it, but I love it! The heroes, the history, the strength, the love and to quote Leon Uris, Ireland's terrible beauty! ( )

Favorite book. Hated to finish it. ( )

1471 Trinity, by Leon Uris (read 21 Dec 1977) I was repelled by some aspects of this book: it wallows in obscenities as far as speech is concerned I thought I was reading the Watergate tapes, but there were no delted obscenities--they were all there. It also reeks with anti-clerical, anti-Church sentiments. Uris is really a pulp writer, I think. He glories in gore. All in all I felt the book was not worth reading. ( )

Excellent book, read a lifetime ago. At the time, I remember thinking that it was the only book to adequately explain 'the trouble' in Ireland and how they came about. ( )

An historical novel, Trinity is about the Irish uprising and battle for independence. The author chose to show the plight of the Irish Catholics through fictional characters and fictionalized actual events. It covers the history of the conflict from about the mid-1800s to just before the Easter Rising, jumping back and forth between Catholic, Protestant and English characters.I appreciated the scope and depth of the information, I really knew very little about this moment in history. The author knows how to build a story and grip your emotions and sympathies for the characters and events, as well as set out clearly the motivations of the parties involved.At the end though, I felt as if I had been emotionally tweaked. I will not believe that every person committed to their faith is an evil, bigoted, hateful human being and that the only compassionate, sensible and decent human beings are the atheists and revolutionaries. Nor can I believe that every English man and woman is a beast who cares nothing for others. That is the impression the book leaves you with. It is not even-handed in any way. I don't like to be tweaked by ministers, politicians or writers, however, I am glad to have read this book, as it did give me insight to the bitterness and sorrows of a part of humanity, and what they did to overcome it. It also made me dig deeper into a part of history I had only glossed over until now. ( )