Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland

Compellingly written and even-handed in its judgments, this is by far the clearest account of what has happened through the years in the Northern Ireland conflict, and why. After a chapter of background on the period from 1921 to 1963, it covers the ensuing period—the descent into violence, the hunger strikes, the Anglo-Irish accord, the bombers in England—to the present shaky peace process. Behind the deluge of information and opinion about the conflict, there is a straightforward and gripping story. Mr. McKittrick and Mr. McVea tell that story clearly, concisely, and, above all, fairly, avoiding intricate detail in favor of narrative pace and accessible prose. They describe and explain a lethal but fascinating time in Northern Ireland's history, which brought not only death, injury, and destruction but enormous political and social change. They close on an optimistic note, convinced that while peace—if it comes—will always be imperfect, a corner has now been decisively turned. The book includes a detailed chronology, statistical tables, and a glossary of terms.

• Rebel Hearts: Journeys Within the IRA's Soul
• Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA
• The Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein
• Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland
• Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland's Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism
• The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966–1995 and the Search for Peace
• Loyalists
• 1916: One Hundred Years of Irish Independence: From the Easter Rising to the Present
• Northern Ireland: The Reluctant Peace