A stunning, and revelatory history of four decades of the IRA, the rise of Gerry Adams, and the peace process. Moloney, who had unprecedented access to the IRA reexamines all the major events—from the earliest riots, bombings, prison hunger strikes, and the assassination of Lourd Mountbatten to the capture, in 1987, of a ship crammed full of Libyan weapons destined for a grateful IRA. From the informers, assassins, and bombers to the astonishing association with Colonel Qaddafi’s Libyan regime, Margaret Thatcher’s secret diplomacy with Adams, the Catholic Church’s clandestine negotiations with the Republican leadership, and the crucial role played by both the Clinton and Bush administrations, this is an extraordinary story.