He is a strong opponent of what he calls the "sanitised narrative", particularly as it relates to Irish republicanism. Instead of viewing the murderous violence of the Troubles as a falling away from the high ideals of Easter 1916, he would place both within a spectrum of fanatacism and savagery.He didn't start with this opinion. Born into a Southern Irish emigrant family in Leicester, Myers graduated from University College Dublin in 1969, and, in common with many of his generation, held mildly "Leftist" and Republican views until exposure to the badness of Belfast began a change of heart. This memoir deals with his experience of getting the naivety knocked out of him, in horrendous circumstances.