The press dare not review this acclaimed investigation of the Black Diaries and historians look away. Angus Mitchell explains why.
“Anatomy of a lie is more than another voice in an overcrowded field. Hyde builds logical arguments based on carefully researched answers to fundamental questions that have sustained the confusion for too long. He answers contradictions about the archive, about the provenance of the diaries and about the management of this story that have previously evaded scrutiny. By critically interrogating the primary sources and the official arguments bolstering authenticity, Hyde exposes the patterns of duplicity, misinformation and selective framing which have produced the contemporary consensus. This penetrating study exposes facts you’re not allowed to know.”
What readers have said:
“… a remarkable account … a work of scholarship.”
Jim O’Callaghan, barrister & TD
“ … a superbly argued demolition of the propaganda surrounding Casement and The Black
Diaries.”
Chris Mooney, UCD
“I found Anatomy of a lie immensely readable, eye-opening.”
Angela Long, journalist
“ … held me spellbound … impeccable in its forensic thesis…most objective and unbiased.”
Marcel Matley, US Forensic Document Examiner
“… fascinating and scholarly. I am convinced …”
Richard Kearney, philosopher
“… the overwhelming detail … demolishes the legitimacy of the Black Diaries; it’s definitive,
unanswerable.”
Niall Gillespie, researcher
“The … detail of Hyde’s exegesis is impressive and reveals … the contradictions, factual errors and
shoddy work … the … perfidious mendacity of the British establishment faced by a formidable
enemy. Historians move slowly and it has taken them a generation to accept the diaries are
forged.”
Conor Lenihan, former minister
“ …you have revisited the question as to the authenticity of the diaries. This strikes me as very
important scholarship.”
Michael D. Higgins, President
History or propaganda?
It is an astonishing but little known fact that there is no evidence whatsoever for the alleged authenticity of the diaries attributed to Casement. This is the incontrovertible conclusion of Anatomy of a Lie. How then has it come about that there is a dominant consensus for authenticity? Irish historians such as professors Laffan and Ferriter admit they have not researched the diaries question and accordingly they have not opposed authenticity claims. They all meekly accept authenticity. The principal biographers provide no evidence for authenticity – indeed not even independent evidence for the material existence of the diaries in 1916. Nor can they account for their provenance. Yet the authors of those studies all claim authenticity; MacColl, Inglis, Reid, Sawyer and others up to the most recent, Philipps. It follows that today’s consensus is not supported by honest historical research which means that it is ‘self-supporting’ like an article of faith and therefore does not need verified facts. This would be a description of how propaganda functions. Anatomy of a Lie reveals both the original absence of evidence and investigates the resulting unofficial propaganda which, from the 1970s on with state/media complicity, has created the illusion of authenticity.
Recent research is available on www.decoding-casement.com
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