Long before he became President of Sinn Fein, 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 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