When I read Modern History at Oxford in the late 1940s, there were relatively few well-known and reliable works about the history and politics of Northern Ireland. The ‘special subject’ options available in the final year of the course did not include – as they do today – a study of the recent history of the Province.

As a by-product of the turbulence to come, we now have available a huge variety of accounts: biographical, autobiographical, journalistic, polemic or sociological. We are able to read the accounts of a wide range of eminent historians, journalists or protagonists. It would be tempting to conclude that yet another book would simply add a further cairn to the mountain of controversy and analysis.

I would not have put pen to paper if I could not hope to offer a distinctive perspective. The son of English parents who settled in Northern Ireland in 1929, I bring to the consideration of controversial events no overwhelming baggage of inherited loyalty or affiliation. True, I am associated with the Protestant tradition; baptised into the Church of England, confirmed in the Church of Ireland, but also at various times a member of Methodist and Presbyterian congregations. My ‘baggage’ is essentially British; but while I personally remain at ease with Northern Ireland's position within the United Kingdom, I have always been comfortable with the concept that ultimate status should be determined by majority opinion, that peaceful advocacy of an end to partition should be regarded as a wholly legitimate political activity.