Belfast Flashbacks tells the story of the Northern Ireland conflict during some of the darkest days. Bill Meulemans presents 28 personal stories written through the eyes of both Irish nationalists and British unionists. The author took considerable personal risks to gain access to the rank-and-file members of warring parties. His contacts included paramilitary members, clergy, governmental officials, prisoners, community workers, taxi drivers, writers, and the police.

The author, Bill Meulemans, is an American political scientist with no ties to either side of the conflict. His neutral approach was based on gaining the confidence of people who seldom trusted anyone outside their community. Belfast became his home away from home.

Meulemans was a visiting professor of politics at The Queen's University of Belfast for 11 years. His association with the university gave him public standing out on the street. He spent nearly all his time inside the embattled Catholic and Protestant working-class neighborhoods with the folks who were doing the fighting and dying.

Belfast Flashbacks: Stories From Both Sides provides an insider's view of how average people lived through nearly 40 years of communal warfare in a part of the world where no one felt safe.