Ebook: A Place Apart: Northern Ireland in the 1970s

Cover; Title Page; Dedication; Epigraph; Contents; Glossary; Foreword; Map; 1: Jottings on the Way; 2: A Few Small Clarifications; 3: Journal of Borderline Cases; 4: Derry is Different; 5: Men of God; 6: Belfast Pedalabouts -- Mostly Green; 7: Belfast Pedalabouts -- Mostly Orange; 8: The War of the Myths; 9: Back to Belfast; 10: The Special Case of South Armagh; 11: The Turn of the Year in Belfast; 12: Law and Disorder; 13: July Journal; 14: Not Without Hope; Afterword: The General and the Traveller; Bibliography; About the Author; Copyright.;At the height of The Troubles, Dervla Murphy cycled to Northern Ireland to try to understand the situation by speaking to people on either side of the divide. She also sought to interrogate her own opinions and emotions. As an Irishwoman and traveller who had only ever spent thirty-six hours of her forty-four years over the border to the north, why had she been so reluctant to engage with the issues? Despite her own family connections to the IRA, she travelled north largely unfettered by sectarian loyalties. Armed instead with an indefatigable curiosity, a fine ear for anecdote, an ability to stand her own at the bar and a penetrating intelligence, she navigated her way through horrifying situations, and sometimes found herself among people stiff with hate and grief. But equally, she discovered an unquenchable thirst for life and peace, a spirit that refused to die.