From the first symptoms of serious unrest - the Divis Street riots of 1964 - to the tortuous political maneuvering culminating in the 2003 Assembly elections, this book traces the reality of life in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

This concise history details the motivation behind the IRA's armed struggle, the Civil Rights movement, the murder campaigns of various loyalist terror groups, the major incidents of violence and the response of the British security forces and the justice system. As a detailed account of the political and personal toll of the Northern Ireland conflict, it describes what it was like to live with bombs, army searches in the dead of night, death threats to politicians, activists and others.