The Northern Ireland troubles began on 5th October 1968, when a civil rights march in Derry ended in violence as the police attacked an unarmed crowd with batons and water cannon. A quarter of a century on, the passions unleashed in Derry are still alive and the conflict they sparked off is as virulent as ever, with no lasting peace in sight. This book is a detailed account, in diary form, of the unfolding and development of the troubles. It also includes a number of short essays which look back at the major events of the last 25 years, assessing their significance and setting them in context. Among these are Sunday Bloody Sunday (1972), the collapse of the power-sharing executive (1974), the IRA hunger strikes (1981) and the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985).