This is an extraordinary account of an extraordinary time in Northern Ireland's history by the Irish correspondent of the Independent. These pieces cover the events of the past three years, including the violence and political turbulence of 1996 to 1998, the two IRA ceasefires, the loyalist cessation of violence, the Good Friday Agreement, the Drumcree confrontations, and the devastating bombing at Omagh. David McKittrick is the author of a number of books, most recently, The Nervous Peace (available from Dufour).