John Whyte has been studying Northern Ireland since the mid 1960s. In Interpreting Northern Ireland he provides a guide to the mass of literature and comment. In part one he surveys the research on the nature and extent of the community divide, examining in turn the religious, economic, political and psychological aspects of the issue. In part 2 he discusses ideological interpretations of the Northern Ireland problems, from unionist and nationalist to Marxist. In the final section of the book he surveys the various solutions that have been proposed and looks critically at what the mass of research has achieved. He suggests that if it has not achieved more it may be because it has sometimes asked the wrong questions.