Product Description
'Tremendous ... If you are to read only one book about the modern IRA, this should be it'
Irish Times
South Armagh was described as 'Bandit Country' by Merlyn Rees when he was Northern Ireland Secretary and for nearly three decades it has been the most dangerous posting in the world for a British soldier.
Toby Harnden has stripped away the myth and propaganda associated with South Armagh to produce one of the most compelling and important books of the Troubles. Drawing on secret documents and interviews in South Armagh's recent history, he tells the inside story of how the IRA came close to bringing the British state to its knees. For the first time, the identities of the men behind the South Quay and Manchester bombings are revealed. Packed with new information, 'BANDIT COUNTRY' penetrates the IRA and the security forces in South Armagh.
Irish Times
South Armagh was described as 'Bandit Country' by Merlyn Rees when he was Northern Ireland Secretary and for nearly three decades it has been the most dangerous posting in the world for a British soldier.
Toby Harnden has stripped away the myth and propaganda associated with South Armagh to produce one of the most compelling and important books of the Troubles. Drawing on secret documents and interviews in South Armagh's recent history, he tells the inside story of how the IRA came close to bringing the British state to its knees. For the first time, the identities of the men behind the South Quay and Manchester bombings are revealed. Packed with new information, 'BANDIT COUNTRY' penetrates the IRA and the security forces in South Armagh.
From the Author
A terrifying and intimate portrait of the IRA's heartland
I have attempted to strip away the myth and propaganda of both sides to produce what I hope will be recognised as one of the most compelling and important books of the Troubles. During four years as a journalist working in Northern Ireland, I carried out interviews with members of the IRA, RUC, Irish police and British Army (including SAS), building up an intimate picture of the IRA in South Armagh from the protagonists themselves. I also had access to secret Army and RUC documents which contained previously-undisclosed details of undercover operations. The book links the IRA's success during the Troubles to the history of lawlessness and rebellion in the area - which is referred to by republican's as "God's Country". The reader will find out the identities of the IRA men who bombed England in the 1990s (the Docklands, Baltic Exchange, Bishopsgate and Manchester bombs were all mixed in barns in South Armagh before being transported across the Irish Sea on ferries of by freight). My aim was to provide answers to a series of questions: Why is South Armagh such a place apart? What sort of people have joined the IRA and how do they live their lives? What has driven these men to the point where the end will justify any means? What has it been like for the outsider to be pitted against such men? Why has the South Armagh Brigade been consistently more effective than the IRA in any other area? What has been the human cost of this fight for Irish freedom? Very few books about the Troubles focus on an area and bring the conflict down to the level of families, farmhouses and fields. I have not spared the reader the horrors of what has happened and there are pictures of bodies and the aftermath of incidents that some people might find distressing.The full story of the death of Captain Robert Nairac, an undercover Army officer, is told. There is also an account of how the SAS captured the IRA's elite sniper unit in April 1997. There are chapters on arms buying in America, the interrogations of informers, sniper attacks, bombs in England, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy. Among the important new stories contained in the book is the tale of how an Irish police officer working for the IRA betrayed the most senior RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles. But there are also details of how loyalist paramilitaries were assisted by RUC members - I want this book to be read by both 'sides' in the conflict rather than seen as a polemical work pushing a particular political agenda. I believe that on of its overall strengths is the amount of new detail contained throughout - the book is not just a collection of what is already in the public domain. It is also written in an accessible way, aimed not just at the Northern Ireland aficionado but also at the general reader who wants to find out what the IRA is about. What more can I say? If you buy this book (which is 400 pages plus and 16 pages of pictures for just £9.99 - £7.99 from Amazon)then I can say with my hand on my heart that you will not be disappointed. I welcome communication by email from any readers or potential readers. I now work in Washington DC. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I have attempted to strip away the myth and propaganda of both sides to produce what I hope will be recognised as one of the most compelling and important books of the Troubles. During four years as a journalist working in Northern Ireland, I carried out interviews with members of the IRA, RUC, Irish police and British Army (including SAS), building up an intimate picture of the IRA in South Armagh from the protagonists themselves. I also had access to secret Army and RUC documents which contained previously-undisclosed details of undercover operations. The book links the IRA's success during the Troubles to the history of lawlessness and rebellion in the area - which is referred to by republican's as "God's Country". The reader will find out the identities of the IRA men who bombed England in the 1990s (the Docklands, Baltic Exchange, Bishopsgate and Manchester bombs were all mixed in barns in South Armagh before being transported across the Irish Sea on ferries of by freight). My aim was to provide answers to a series of questions: Why is South Armagh such a place apart? What sort of people have joined the IRA and how do they live their lives? What has driven these men to the point where the end will justify any means? What has it been like for the outsider to be pitted against such men? Why has the South Armagh Brigade been consistently more effective than the IRA in any other area? What has been the human cost of this fight for Irish freedom? Very few books about the Troubles focus on an area and bring the conflict down to the level of families, farmhouses and fields. I have not spared the reader the horrors of what has happened and there are pictures of bodies and the aftermath of incidents that some people might find distressing.The full story of the death of Captain Robert Nairac, an undercover Army officer, is told. There is also an account of how the SAS captured the IRA's elite sniper unit in April 1997. There are chapters on arms buying in America, the interrogations of informers, sniper attacks, bombs in England, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy. Among the important new stories contained in the book is the tale of how an Irish police officer working for the IRA betrayed the most senior RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles. But there are also details of how loyalist paramilitaries were assisted by RUC members - I want this book to be read by both 'sides' in the conflict rather than seen as a polemical work pushing a particular political agenda. I believe that on of its overall strengths is the amount of new detail contained throughout - the book is not just a collection of what is already in the public domain. It is also written in an accessible way, aimed not just at the Northern Ireland aficionado but also at the general reader who wants to find out what the IRA is about. What more can I say? If you buy this book (which is 400 pages plus and 16 pages of pictures for just £9.99 - £7.99 from Amazon)then I can say with my hand on my heart that you will not be disappointed. I welcome communication by email from any readers or potential readers. I now work in Washington DC. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Toby Harnden was appointed Irish Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in 1996, after first joining the newspaper as a reporter in London. He was one of the first journalists at the scene of the IRA's Docklands bomb and, after moving to Belfast, reported on the second IRA ceasefire, the Good Friday Agreement and the Omagh bombing as well numerous explosions, shootings, riots, marches and political crises. He grew up in Manchester and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he took a First in Modern History in 1988. Recently appointed the Daily Telegraph's bureau chief in Washington, this is his first book.
