Oh man do I have a lot for you! I hope you enjoy lengthy reading lists!

First thing first an excellent book to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of community conflict would be Marc Mulholland's Very Short Introduction to Northern Ireland! This helps to explain the Ulster Plantations, as well as events from the period when Ireland was part of the Union. (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/northern-ireland-a-very-short-introduction-9780192801562?cc=gb&lang=en&)

Next, I highly recommend you check out the CAIN website! CAIN (Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland) is an Ulster University project funded by the Republic of Ireland, the EU, and other academic sources. It has not only an excellent breakdown of the conflict, but contains timelines of key events, the significance of them, and reading lists for further research! It also has managed to obtain extracts from many compilations of primary sources (such as interviews with soldiers in the British Army, interviews with individuals in the PIRA, the reports of some of the Commissions set up to inquire into areas of the conflict).

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.html

Here is a selection of other books I have found useful and interesting (I am currently doing coursework on it, so some of them may be rather academic!)

First I will start with some of the larger texts!

Flackes and Elliot Northern Ireland: A political DIrectorry, 1968-98 is an excellent book, it has a timeline of the conflict from 68 onwards, a humongous dictionary of the important individuals, groups, moments, and other terms, as well as a breakdown of all election results.

Lost Lives by McKittrick et al is equally impressive, it accounts for every death in the conflict with impressive biographical detail. It is equal parts fascinating, horrifying, and emotional.

Now for some around the different areas of the Troubles.

If you are interested in the Civil Rights Movement and how the troubles started;

Bob Purdie, Politics in the Streets: The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland

Peter Rose, How the Troubles Came to Northern Ireland

Christopher Hewitt, 'THe Roots of Violence, Catholic Grievances and Irish Nationalism' in Roche P J and Barton B, Northern Ireland: Myth and Reality

Henry Patterson, Ireland Since 1939: The Persistence of the Conflict (Ch. 7) (but is also a good gen book)

If you are interested in the British handling of the conflict;

Michael J. Cunningham, British Government Policy in Northern Ireland, 1969-2000

Peter Catterall and Sean McDougall (eds), The Northern Ireland Question in British Politics

David McKittrick and David McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles

Tony Geraghty, The Irish War: The Military History of a Domestic Conflict

Michael Dewar, The British Army in Northern Ireland

If you are interested in paramilitary groups;

M. L. R. Smith, Fighting For Ireland: The Military Strategy of the IRA

Ed Maloney, A Secret History of the IRA

Marc Mulholland, 'Political Violence' in Richard English and Ian McBride, The Princeton History of Modern Ireland

Steve Bruce, The Red Hand: Protestant Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland

Peter Taylor, Loyalists

Anne Cadwallader, Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland

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Please drop me a message/reply to this comment if you have any questions or any specific area/time period you want to explore further!

I would also wholeheartedly recommend giving Peter Taylor's documentaries a watch (he made a series each on the Provos, Brits, and Loyalists), they can be found with a little search both on Youtube, but some have been deleted so a quick google will lead you to alternative sites that are hosting it!

There is a good bibliography as well as lots of articles, documents and other sources at http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/bibliography/index.html.

For an overview of the conflict, I find McKittrick, David. (2000). Making Sense of the Troubles. (Belfast: Blackstaff Press.,) good, McKittrick is a journalist but it is a well balanced account. Also Bell, J.Bowyer. (1993). The Irish Troubles: A Generation of Violence, 1967-1992.

For a broader history of Northern Ireland, Bew, Paul., Gibbon, Peter., and Patterson, Henry. (2002). Northern Ireland 1921-2001: Political Forces and Social Classes is still the best account. Hennessey, Thomas. (1997). A History of Northern Ireland, 1920-1996 is more prosaic but basically sound.

The best history of the IRA is Richard English's Armed Struggle.