Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams offers a unique, intimate account of his childhood in working-class Belfast and the turbulent years of social activism that followed. First published in 1996 – at a time when politics in the North was at an impasse, and the Good Friday Agreement was still many intense months away – Before the Dawn tells of the pogroms of 1969 and the hunger strikes of 1981, moving from the streets of West Belfast to the cages and the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. An engaging and revealing self-portrait that is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand modern Ireland. Updated with a new introduction and epilogue.