This book is a surprisingly broad study of the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process, with an unusual and contentious hypothesis, though one ultimately likely to prove useful even to those who disagree with it. The book is influenced by a sense of the interlacing nature of political groups and dynamics in Northern Ireland which evinces understanding of (though not empathy with) even mutually exclusive positions in a way few writers on the Northern question draw out. This sense that even groups often portrayed as intransigent find a constituency in Northern Ireland based upon the lived experience of groups and communities is underpinned by the book's view of identity and its consequences. The book also addresses much discussed wider controversies, such as debates surrounding immigration, terrorism and September 11th, and national identity. It addresses these issues with unorthodox conclusions, and it is guaranteed to be of interest to intelligent non-specialists as well as to academics and policy makers.