April 2001

This book reveals how one of the world's most ruthless and determined guerrilla organisations, the Irish Republican Army, came to put aside the gun and the bomb and make peace with its enemies.

The author was well-placed to cover the evolution of the peace process. His narrative reads like a diplomatic thriller as he chronicles the extraordinary moves by the British, Irish and US governments to bring the IRA in from the cold and persuade the unionists to accept Irish republicans as partners in peacemaking.

He describes the impact on the peace process of key personalities such as John Hume, David Trimble, Gerry Adams, Bill Clinton, Martin McGuinness, George Mitchell, Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam, Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahern, Seamus Mallon and Peter Mandelson.

A veteran Irish Times correspondent, the author charts the progress of the peace process from the late 1980s through the dramatic events of Good Friday 1998, to the long and agonising negotiations afterwards to implement the deal. The real inside story is told here for the first time by a journalist with unrivalled contacts.