History of Norther Ireland 1920-1996, A

Hennessey (politics, Queens U. of Belfast) traces what he sees as communal division, mutual suspicion, Catholic alienation, and Protestant siege mentality since the six counties were retained by the British throne as ransom for Irish home rule. He describes political events decade by decade and the differing reactions to them by nationalists and unionists. He ends his account with the lifting of the first IRA ceasefire, and sees hope for peace in Sein FTin's acknowledgment of unionists' Britishness.