Amazon Review:

By far the clearest account of what happened in the Northern Ireland conflict - and why. The troubles rolled grimly on for almost thirty years from the late '60s until the onset of the current shaky peace process. In that time they never strayed far off the news schedules of the world's media. But behind the wall of information and opinion there was a straightforward and gripping story, demanding to be told in an accessible way. Award-winning Ireland correspondent for the Independent David McKittrick and historian David McVea at last tell that story - clearly, concisely and above all fairly.

Amazon Review:

Peter Hart (Author of THE IRA AND ITS ENEMIES), January 2003
...the best account by far of the twentieth century's longest war... If you want to know where the IRA came from and how they think, this is the book to read.

Amazon synopsis:

In this readable and authoritative study, Ireland's bestselling popular historian tells the extraordinary story of how contemporary Ireland came into existence. Covering both South and North and dealing with social and cultural history as well as political, this will surely become a definitive single-volume account of the making of modern Ireland.

Amazon Synopsis:

This work provides essential elements required for a Modern World Study on Northern Ireland. It includes a survey of aspects of Irish history from Celtic times to the Welfare State of the 1950s. It also gives an analysis of key events since the development of the Civil Rights movement in the later 1960s and the onset of "The Troubles"