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For a comprehensive history of the North go for Bardon's A History of Ulster. Probably the best history of the province I'm familiar with. It starts at the very beginning though, a lot of context to wade through if you just want to rubberneck at the troubles.

For a take on more recent events Making Sense of The Troubles is always good and very readable.

I just finished reading Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement. It clearly deals mostly with the one side but it contextualises everything pretty well and contains a wealth of interviews spanning decades of research.