Book excerpt: In 1980 and 1981, imprisoned Irish Nationalists embarked on a hunger strike to protest Margaret Thatcher's British government. Empowered by their belief that they were prisoners of war rather than convicted criminals, the young men refused to wear prisoners' uniforms and began a hunger strike to protest their status both in prison and in terror-stricken Northern Ireland. Led by Bobby Sands - who was elected to Parliament while on strike in jail - and supported by the firepower of the IRA, the prisoners endured a grueling test of faith and will. Some Mother's Son tells their story through the shared experience of two mothers - one a strident nationalist, the other a pacifist - who must come to terms with the political beliefs that may take their sons' lives.