The troubles in Northern Ireland rolled grimly on for almost 30 years from the late 1960s until the onset of the current shaky peace process. In that time, the conflict never strayed far off the news schedules of the world's media. Thousands of books, articles and theses were published, dissecting every possible aspect of the problem and making it the most researched civil conflict in history. Behind the wall of information and opinion there is a straightforward story. This is an account of what happened in the Northern Ireland conflict, and why, told by award-winning Ireland Correspondent for the Independent , David McKittrick, and historian David McVea.