John Hume, Ireland's greatest peace-maker, is widely recognised as the architect of the Northern Ireland peace process. In John Hume in America, Maurice Fitzpatrick explores how Hume created this framework for peace through the cultivation of an unprecedented and bountiful relationship with the White House and the US Congress. John Hume's political vision and innate sense of diplomacy persuaded key players in US politics to merge their concerns with his own.

Ted Kennedy, Tip O'Neill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Hugh Carey - together known as the 'Four Horsemen' - were won over to his cause, lending the campaign for equality in Northern Ireland worldwide credibility and putting considerable pressure on the British and Irish governments to strive for peace.

Through his work with the 'Four Horsemen', Hume engaged every America president from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton.

Maurice Fitzpatrick's seminal work is the missing piece in the jigsaw of Hume's political life, tracing his philosophy of non-violence during the Civil Rights Movement through to his indispensable work with friends in the US towards the creation of a new political framework in Northern Ireland.