"This is an extraordinary account of an extraordinary time in Northern Ireland's history. As the prize-winning Ireland correspondent of the London Independent, David McKittrick has reported on the violence and political turbulence since 1986, but writes that the years 1996 to 1999 'show the perils of prediction, for no writer of fiction could have dared to construct a plot filled with such incident and commotion. No one could have forecast all the high spots and low points, all that hope and all that tragedy.'"

"Covering the rollercoaster ride of hope, despair and back to hope again as Northern Ireland inched towards a new political framework - and including major events, from the IRA attack on Canary Wharf to the murder of solicitor Rosemary Nelson - this distinguished collection presents the best of McKittrick's journalism during these watershed years."--Jacket.