Martin Fletcher was sent to Belfast for the Times in 1997 just as the politicians were cruising towards what was to become the Good Friday Agreement. He explains the North in terms of local lore, politics, grief - and cock-fighting, briefly summed up as "the beautiful and the ugly". This is an amazingly informative book written in a consise narrative style that lures you in. Fletcher provides colour on every page - Ballymoney is famous for an international runner; Portstewart for a charity bike race; Cullybackey, Co Antrim, for the Arthur Cottage, homestead of a US president, which he nearly sees on his way to meet poteen makers. Fletcher's breath is phenomenal. He must have written the book on a daily basis. He goes to Crossmaglen to discuss its image problem in the pub and to Portatown for a Billy Wright tour. In Newcastle he tells us about Charlie Chaplin's stay there in 1921. Read this and you'll know it all . . .