During the Northern Irish Troubles of the past thirty years, a war of words has accompanied and interpenetrated with the actual conduct of violence in highly complex ways. This book considers how literature of the period engages and participates in this war of words. It draws on a range of contemporary authors and on a variety of printed sources, including journalists' reports, political speeches, interviews, memoirs, pamphlets and autobiography. The book places the Northern Ireland conflict within a broad European debate about the legitimate use of force, and provides an original analysis of the inter-relationship between language, literature and violence.