Chumofchance asked Stina Leicht:

Hi Stina It is apparent to me that you've done quite a bit of research on the Troubles. Any books you've read that you found particularly informative? Or, for that matter, unbiased? 2nd question might be a tall order though.

Stina Leicht The Troubles is an emotional, complex topic, and there are very good reasons for that. Actual history isn't clean or tidy. War isn't how the Epic Fantasy novels and movies portray it. There is no 100% good protagonist versus a 100% evil. We're talking about human beings, and history is built up of a multitude of human experiences. Some of them are conflicting. The important thing to remember is that all are valid. (There is a reason the police prefer only one witness to a crime. Again, there's a reason for that. Look into the science of perception.) Therefore, there is no 'one and only' true story/experience of The Troubles. The best one can do as an outsider is to pull from multiple points of view and form one's guess--and don't kid yourself, it is a guess. This is why I included an extensive bibliography with those novels. However, I'd recommend starting with Tim Pat Coogan's books and then work outward from there. That said, I consider the most informative to be the memoirs. They report valuable details that historians leave out, but always remember the authors have an emotional stake in their stories. And sometimes individuals don't have the whole picture. They are, after all, human beings. We all are.

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