Irish Times foreign affairs correspondent Deaglán de Bréadn has put together an even-handed, blow-by-blow account of the recent, historic peace process in Northern Ireland. "The Far Side of Revenge: Making Peace in Northern Ireland" is an insider's account of how Gerry Adams, the Clinton administration, John Major and many lesser-known figures came together, huffed and puffed, kicked and screamed, but eventually produced a tenuous peace in a violence-scarred land. "This was drama, these were actors," de Bréadn writes. Indeed, the author ratchets up the tension, giving the reader a genuine feel for how messy - yet also how profound - recent events in the North have been. "I expect to live to see a United Ireland," de Bréadn concludes, "but perhaps not the one the poets dreamed about, and with a very close relationship to a modernized, post-imperial Britain."

($24.95 / 398 pages /The Collins Press-Dufour Editions)