A history of Derry in the mid-19th century by Mr John Hume, dealing with the city's expansion up to the period just beyond the Famine, is being published next week by the Ulster Historical Foundation.
Derry Beyond the Walls was written as a Master's thesis almost 40 years ago when Mr Hume was a 27-year-old French and History teacher in St Columb's College Derry, before he entered politics.
While history is a first love for the Bogside native it won't be lost on political commentators that his transition from historian to politician happened seamlessly. When receiving international accolades such as the Nobel Prize he describes himself as "John Hume, historian".
"History has a lot to do with my analysis of the problem here and with my approach in how to resolve it," he said yesterday.
The former SDLP leader is enthusiastic about the book launch and was reluctant to enter into comments about the political deadlock for fear it might convey the impression that Derry Beyond the Walls has a political axe to grind. "It is a history book, it has nothing to do with politics," he said.
When prevailed upon he expressed his conviction that the current problems would be surmounted. There were always going to be hiccups because "as I have said this quarrel isn't going to be solved in a week or a fortnight".
As a means of restoring devolution he had suggestions and comments both for republicans and unionists: "The IRA since its foundation has maintained that it is acting in the name of the Irish people. It is quite clear now that the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement is acting in the name of the Irish people. Given that they have already declared an end to violence then acting in the name of the Irish people, they should soon be making clear that an organisation committed to armed struggle no longer exists.
"That same vote puts a very serious question to unionism because for the first time in history the whole of nationalist Ireland accepts the principle of consent, which is a fundamental principle of unionism. If the anti-agreement unionists overthrow the agreement they are overthrowing the principle of consent."
