[close] The Troubles--a collective term for the sectarian violence and near-ritual murder that has plagued Northern Ireland for the last quarter century--can be laid at the door of a small group of terrorists, republican and loyalist, whose influence far exceeds its number. Jonathan Stevenson, an American journalist, interviews more than 30 of these militants, many of whom admit the folly of armed struggle and express a desire for a peace that admits all sides. Whether that peace will come through the on-again, off-again truce now in effect in Northern Ireland remains to be seen, but Stevenson's book provides an important, close-up view of events in that unhappy place. [close]