As we have demonstrated in the chapters analysing memoir-writing from within the republican movement, there is a long tradition of Irish republican and nationalist writing that has conflated individual protagonists’ lives with the ‘story’ of the nation. This personalisation of Irish republican history can be traced back at least as far as the nineteenth century, and this approach remains popular in the contemporary period. By contrast, it is difficult to discern a similar tradition within loyalist paramilitarism, at least until recently, even if republican efforts to ‘re-write the script’ and control the narrative of the peace process have proved irksome. With only a few exceptions, loyalists have seemed inarticulate and slow to react to this transparent republican strategy to control the narrative ‘telling’ of the conflict. Within Ulster unionism, the prevailing tradition of memoir-writing has been the ministerial memoir, firmly based upon the parliamentary arena, and mirroring the Cabinet reminiscences of Westminster politicians; Brian Faulkner's Memoirs of a Statesman (1977) is a classic in this sub-genre. There is also a range of memoir-writing from within the wider Protestant working-class community, although these works are not always explicitly political in outlook. Also, there is a fine tradition of autobiographically inspired writing for the theatre, specifically documenting the Belfast Protestant working-class experience. Specifically in terms of using the loyalist paramilitary tradition as a subject for the theatre, there is also the recent work of playwright Gary Mitchell, who has vividly dramatised this enclosed world. Whilst not belonging to any of the loyalist organisations, Mitchell was brought up and lived for many years in the loyalist stronghold of Rathcoole, in North Belfast. As an unemployed youth in a ‘desolate claustrophobic environment’, dominated by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Mitchell has admitted that he ‘wanted to join the UDA, I had a really strong desire to do it. There is a bravado associated with being in the organisation, you were tough if you got involved.’ The UDA was a legal organisation until 1992, although those of its members prepared to engage in terrorist violence were often recruited into the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).