Our Martin by James McVeigh

As a teenager growing up in Derry's Bogside area in the 1960s, Martin McGuinness quickly became aware of the injustices heaped upon his community by decades of unionist rule since the partition of Ireland in the 1920s. And when people began to campaign for basic civil rights, he saw that they were met by both loyalist and state violence, including killings.

This had a profound impact on a young Martin McGuinness, and he developed a burning desire to see and end to inequality and injustice. Like many others of his generation, he saw no alternative but to join the IRA. So began the career of one of the foremost and iconic political leaders of his generation. At the age of 22 he was already chosen as a republican representative for secret talks with the British in 1972.

The twIsts and turns of the IRA campaign, the rise of Sinn Fein as an electoral force and the development of a peaceful strategy for the achievement of united Ireland, are here described alongside Martin's family life, his marriage to Bernie Canning, their four children together and many happy times at home and on holiday in Donegal.