I discovered a copy of Trinity at the library just a few years ago, long after it had first been published. I knew of Uris as the author of Exodus and other books about Israel, and was *very* favorably impressed that he had devoted a thick book's worth of work (a year or so, perhaps?) to depicting the struggles of a people other than his own.

I've gotten enough highbrow education to recognize that books like those of Uris and Michenor do not represent the highest literary art, but they're not supposed to. They're intended for a large audience, they're enjoyable and entertaining, and they present a broad and reasonably objective view of complicated historical deveopments to a lot of people who might otherwise not learn anything at all about the subject matter at hand. As such, these books are a very valuable part of contemporary world culture.

I enjoyed Trinity enough to read the sequel, Redemption, and enjoyed them both very much. As I was already familiar with most of the history covered in the books, they were not as informative to me as they surely would be to a reader new to the subject, but I learned something and found them to be essentially truthful.

If you liked those two books -- and even if you didn't like 'em because you thought them inadequate -- let me recommend an even better work of historical fiction about twentieth-century Ireland: Morgan Llywellyn's [sp?] trilogy 1916, 1924, and 1949. (I suppose it's a trilogy; at least, it is one at the moment -- the third installment, 1949, was published just this year. For all I know, there may be a fourth one yet to come.)

I think these books are superior to Uris' (at least, to his two works set in Northern Ireland) both as literature and in terms of historical scholarship, but they're still quite entertaining and accessible to the average reader. I should mention that most of the main characters -- like the author -- are women, and much (though by no means all) of the narration is from a women's point of view. This didn't bother me a bit, but I can imagine that *some* male readers expecting tales of revolution told from a warrior's point of view might be disappointed. Most others will probably be pleased with a very complex depiction of the experience of an entire people.

But I digress! We're here to eulogize the recently departed Leon Uris, not to compare him unfavorably to another author, and I apologize. Uris had an axe to grind, certainly, and probably saw himself as having a mission to lend his talents to the effort to establish the state of Israel. He succeeded admirably, and his life would have been a success if he had never published anything except the hugely influential Exodus. But he did much more, not only producing several more works serving the honor and glory of Israel and of the Jewish people, but going even further towards develooping a vision of humanit as a whole. I, for one, appreciate his admirable efforts to draw attention and understanding to the troubled folk of Ireland, much as he did for his own brethern. Good for him!