Independent scholar Gillespie has updated his material to 2016, picking up where the first edition (2008) ended, dividing the work into sections conforming to the publisher's typical organization: acronyms and abbreviations (with 150 listings), maps, chronology, introduction, and a separate classified bibliography. The dictionary proper has over 300 cross-referenced entries with information about events, reports, and organizations, along with individuals who have played their parts in the violent conflict known as ‘the Troubles.’… The chronology…highlights major events beginning with the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967 up through July 2016, when James Brokenshire became Secretary of State. The bibliography is extensive, identifying over 800 books, films, and websites. Overall, the content offers a good, quick-reference resource handy for those libraries supporting programs in Irish-UK history and politics.

Summing Up: Recommended. High school students through researchers/faculty; general readers.

Choice Reviews

[T]his work does provide in-depth information on the Northern Ireland conflict, or ‘The Troubles,’ and the impacts it has had, and continues to have, since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. It is recommended for academic libraries…

American Reference Books Annual

The author of this Dictionary has lived in Northern Ireland throughout it, and has written extensively about aspects of it. He provides 350 articles of between 100 and 2,000 words on people (the most frequent category), parties, organisations and events significant to the subject. An unusual and depressing feature is that so many of the events took the form of terrorist attacks (though one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter), but on the other hand, many record attempts to end the conflict, which were frequently abortive but eventually succeeded.

Reference Reviews