Loyalists by Peter Taylor (Bloomsbury, £7.99 in UK)

`Dissident" republicans - and maybe some of the flakier commentators and public figures in this state - should be locked up and made to read this book. Their release would be dependent on production of an essay stating ways in which nationalists and loyalists can live together and respect each other's rights. Taylor's journalistic work on the North deserves great respect. His reputation is such that the most taciturn terrorists agree to be interviewed for his works. In Loyalists, UDA and UVF men speak chillingly about killing Catholics as part of their "war" to defend the Union with Britain: the considerable loyalist appetite for terrorism is well documented here.