His last book, Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice, was something of a departure from his usual writings, and its original publisher abandoned the finished manuscript shortly after Holland's death, which followed a brief struggle with cancer.
His journalistic career began at the Dublin weekly Hibernia (which he, ironically, had a hand in bringing down),[4][5][failed verification] a newspaper owned by John Mulcahy and edited by Brian Trench.
[6] He earned his living there as a freelance journalist, writing for many publications, most notably The Irish Echo,[7] where his weekly column "A View North" had a devoted following.
In the 1990s, he became a lecturer at the New York University School of Journalism, he worked for Channel 4 in London, and he co-scripted the documentary Daughters of the Troubles[8] (produced by Marcia Rock).
His knowledge of the Northern Irish political situation and his reporting of the terrorist conflict earned him the respect of the public and of influential policy-makers in Washington, London, and Dublin such as statesmen Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton.
He has written a book on the Irish National Liberation Army, INLA – Deadly Divisions, which he co-authored with his cousin, the former Workers' Party and Official IRA associate Henry McDonald.