* The Blair administration’s pursuit of a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland stands out as one of the great achievements in modern British politics.

* Even after the initial moves towards a peace, there was every chance that long-nursed grievances would break out again into paramilitary extremism. That they did not is a lasting monument to the determination and guile of many of those involved.

* As the government’s key negotiator, Jonathan Powell is uniquely qualified to give the definitive account of the end of the Troubles.

* Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland will become a landmark in the literature of conflict resolution: an historical document of lasting importance that is also a vivid and dramatic account of fallible men and women working at the limits of their endurance.