One of the insistent themes of any such history is its futile circularity. It is likely that the deal that may emerge from the current talks will be remarkably similar to the one on offer in the early 1970s, save for all the brutality and death that intervened.
And take the famous formulas of disavowal of British self-interest which aim to convince republicans that the British do not view Ulster as a colonial possession vital to wider imperialist interests and would withdraw if allowed by the people of Northern Ireland.
The formula was originated by Labour's Merlyn Rees in 1975, revived by Peter Brooke in 1990 and eventually enshrined in the 1993 Downing Street Declaration. Taylor notes that British and Irish mandarins spent months agreeing the "tortuous wording." Taylor then misquotes the famous phrase as Britain having "no selfish, strategic or economic interest" in the North - which is apparently the core of the still unpublished Hume-Adams agreement.
However, the actual phrase is "no selfish strategic or economic interest." The term selfish crucially qualifies the rest of the sentence. It is a common enough misquote but offers a complete misunderstanding of British intentions and therefore unionist fears and republican hopes. Of such commas is conflict resolved or sustained.
Taylor's book adds little new. But the book and especially the television series may have an important political impact. Both appear to be retrospective, putting the Troubles into the past and thereby almost rehabilitating the Provos by portraying some of them in a human light.
Taylor believes that events have been moving towards conflict resolution for a decade but records that few of the many Provos he had interviewed in detail agree that their war is over. The next few months may show if Taylor's book is to be filed under history or current affairs.