How the Troubles Came to Northern Ireland [Hardcover]

In a new book about Northern Ireland historian Peter Rose argues that if Harold Wilson's government in the late sixties had pursued a different policy the province might have been spared The Troubles. Wilson had promised the Catholics that they would be granted their civil rights. However, new evidence suggests that Westminster was deliberately gagged to prevent MPs demanding that the Stormont administration ended discrimination in the province. Had the government acted on intelligence of growing Catholic unrest, it could have prevented the rise of the Provisional IRA without provoking an unmanageable Protestant backlash. The book draws upon recently released official documents and interviews with many key politicians and civil servants of the period to examine the failure of British policy to prevent the troubles.General Editor's Preface Author's Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Chronology Introduction 'Leave it to Terence': the Labour Government, October 1964-March 1966 The 'Crucially Difficult Year', April-August 1966 Putting off the Evil Day, September 1966-May 1967 The Phoney Peace, May 1967-March 1968 The Road to Londonderry, April-October 1968 'History is Against Us', November 1968-April 1969 To the Top of the Agenda, May-August 1969 Conclusion Bibliography Index

Pre-publication endorsements for the paperback edition

'This book should be required reading for every aspiring minister, administrator or political scientist...Anyone who seeks to understand how events have unfolded in Northern Ireland should start with Peter Rose...It is a fine work of scholarship...beautifully written...It does not shirk controversy nor leave any questions unanswered.' Kevin McNamara MP, Irish Post

'Here's a book title to have all students of the political scene...reaching out their hands.' Barry White, Belfast Telegraph

'Thirty and more years of death and destruction cannot be laid at Harold Wilson's doorlÓs