Drawing on newspaper reports of the day, Gillespie reminds readers of the times of optimism and despair which accompanied the great as well as tragic events. Years of Darkness covers landmark days such as Bloody Sunday, Bloody Friday, the Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Enniskillen and Omagh bombs and many others. However, the book also recalls some of the 'forgotten' atrocities of the Troubles, among them Coleraine in June 1973; the Strand Bar in April 1975; and the Ramble Inn in July 1976. The often graphic accounts of those who survived such events remind the reader of the human cost of the Troubles. Years of Darkness provides an analysis of the main political and security developments. But much of its focus is on the impact of the Northern Ireland conflict on the ordinary person and on those who survived as much as on those who died.

Years of Darkness: The Troubles Remembered

History

Gordon Gillespie

Europe

Gill & MacMillan, Limited

For thirty-eight long years, from 1968 until the St Andrew's Agreement and IRA decommissioning in 2006, Northern Ireland was wracked by inter-communal violence. It became notorious as one of the world's most intractable quarrels whose effects were felt not only in Northern Ireland but in the Republic of Ireland, the rest of the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States. The Troubles sprang from the nature of Northern Ireland itself. Established in 1920 in order to contain the local unionist majority within the United Kingdom, it none the less embraced a one-third minority of nationalists. The distinguishing mark between unionist and nationalist was confessional - Protestants and Catholics. Nationalist refusal fully to acknowledge the legitimacy of the state was met by unionist discrimination against the minority. The imperial government in London, nominally the sovereign power, looked the other way. The Troubles started in 1968 as a demand for equality and civil rights within the UK, but quickly changed character when the re-formed IRA decided to take aggressive military action against Britain with a view to securing Irish independence by force of arms. It gradually developed into a contest that neither side could win. Along the way, there were many atrocities, many brutal murders and maimings and the moral compromise of both communities o almost 3,000 people lost their lives.

A Short History of the Troubles

GILL MACMILLAN

First edition. Catalogue to an exhibition of posters from the Northern Ireland Political Collection at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast, October-November 2001, with an additional 3000 posters, artifacts and commentary included with a CD-ROM Poster notes text by John Gray. "Troubled Images" is the first substantial book on the posters of the Northern Ireland 'Troubles'. With illustrated card inscribed by the editor loosely inserted.

Troubled Images: Posters and Images of the Northern Ireland Conflict from the Linen Hall Library, Belfast

Yvonne Murphy

Allan Leonard

Kris Brown

Linen Hall Library

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Books by Gordon Gillespie