We are proud to share that ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland" by Dan Lawton, a recent history publication from WildBlue Press, has received a noteworthy review from Kirkus Reviews, an esteemed critic in the literary world. The rigor and expansiveness of Lawton's research is simply astonishing, and his journalistic prose is exacting and powerful. This is by turns a terrifying and heartbreaking story, conveyed with … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Discusses the Universal Themes Present in ABOVE THE GROUND
I think Kevin Barry Artt's story is universal in its themes-An innocent caught up in a meat grinder, escape from oppression, David against Goliath. But, as an American, I had to learn the history from scratch to tell the story right. I grew up a white kid in suburban southern California, not a Black kid from South Central who had to worry about the LAPD. Police, courts, and laws were respected by everyone we knew. If there'd been a story … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Calls Kevin Barry Artt’s Journey a ‘Metaphor for Northern Ireland Itself’
That Artt's adoptive parents named him after a revered Irish patriot, Kevin Barry, suggests that he, too, is a patriot and a freedom fighter-which, really, he isn't. He was an accidental hero. He didn't seek out the violence and abuse that the British poured onto him. He stumbled into them by accident. He didn't ask for the legal abuse that U.S. prosecutors Mark Zanides and Sara Criscitelli, a couple of modern-day Javerts, later laid onto … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Ponders: “Who were really the good guys and the bad guys?”
As a kid, I found the Troubles hard to understand. The American media just didn't do a good job of explaining clearly who, exactly, were the opposing parties, and what things they wanted out of the war that was going on in Northern Ireland. At times, they made it seem like a religious war of sorts, which it wasn't. I read about Bobby Sands dying in 1981, in the U.S. media, which conferred a kind of stardom on him. But, to me, the coverage … [Read more...]
Meet Author Dan Lawton
I'm a writer and lawyer. My short fiction and columns have appeared in The Recorder, Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Pensive Quill, The Daily Transcript, and Sheepshead Review. ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland is my first work of narrative nonfiction. I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, California, along with my three younger brothers. I earned my undergraduate degree … [Read more...]
