Bandit Country

A NEW EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED BOOKS ON THE TROUBLES Branded as 'Bandit Country' by the British government, South Armagh was the heartland of the Provisional IRA. It was the rebel Irish stronghold where Thomas 'Slab' Murphy reigned supreme, bomb attacks on England were planned and the SAS tracked the IRA snipers who hunted British soldiers. In this acclaimed and remarkable book - originally published in 1999 - Toby Harnden, winner of the Orwell Prize, brings to bear his skills as a fearless journalist, inspired investigator and gifted historian, threatened with imprisonment for protecting his sources in Northern Ireland but undeterred. He draws on secret documents and unsparing interviews with key protagonists on both sides to produce perhaps the most compelling and essential account of the IRA and the Troubles.

Toby Harnden is a dual British and American citizen. A former foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph who has reported from thirty-three countries, he specialises in terrorism and war. His bestseller Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan (Quercus, 2011) was winner of the 2012 Orwell Prize. His most recent book is First Casualty (Little Brown, 2021). His acclaimed Bandit Country was originally published in 1999.