Sounds like a strange lead-in for an e-mail to the Scotch-Irish list but wait to you here this. I would not have believed it but I saw it with my very own eyes. On our last day in Belfast, John was tying up some loose ends at Queens University so I decided to walk downtown to visit a friend of mine, Harold Curran, owner of a fabric store called the Spinning Wheel and within a few minutes we were off having tea. I commented to Harold how prosperous and well-behaived Belfast appeared to be and he almost fell out of his chair. He said, "Lets go for a ride" and off we went to north Belfast to a neighborhood that obviously had not heard of the current peace. You must first understand that Belfast is really two different towns. If you live on the Malone Rd. you are as far away from the troubles as if you lived in Atlanta, but the Falls or the Crumlin Rd is another matter. Many Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods are separated by metal barriers but this north Belfast neighborhood was different. You turned a corner and for two blocks it was Protestant and the next two blocks were Catholic. No dividing line, no walls, but no question about where you were. The Protestant homes all had British flags proudly displayed and the Catholics had the usual Irish tricolor. What was surreal was the flag of Israel flying next to the British flag and the Palestinian flag side by side with the Irish flag. Go figure. And you want to read a book about the troubles? There are still troubles, five people shot in two days on the lower Newtownards road and a seething undercurrant of resentment among some of the combatents. You see, peace is not good for some groups of thugs, the ones who extort money for protection, the ones engaged in the drug trade. It is way beyond religion and culture and it is mostly about money. Follow the money. This is what Harold told me. He lives in Belfast, he has survived the troubles. Regards, Robert Cowan Former Director of the Irish Children's Summer Program, Charlotte