On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Northern Ireland `Troubles' the Ulster Loyalists are an increasingly alienated people. In this timely book Steve Bruce provides crucial insights into the Loyalist world-view. Describing the troubles as a deeply entrenched ethnic conflict, he argues that a widespread failure to take into account the strength and importance of the loyalist identity will scupper the chances of peace.

Steve Bruce is the author of God Save Ulster! The Religion and Politics of Paisleyism (OUP, 1986) and The Red Hand: Protestant Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland (OUP, 1992), which sold around 6,000 copies each. He makes regular media appearences as an expert on Northern Ireland.