Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh 
Customer Ratings: - ?. I do not read many books so tend to stick to historic or autobiographical books.
I found this book to be the best book I have ever read. It gave me a very good insight to the troubles in the north. Toby done a very good job on the book.
I could not put it down for 5 min. Its the only book that traveled with me.
- I hate terrorism even more after it. GREAT book.. I had already read The Informer by Sean O Callaghan and Killing Rage by Eamon Collins (both former IRA men and both excellent books) and this was a great book too. It really shows the horror of terrorism/war/extremism. Unsurprisingly bloodthirsty fans of war and the pira loved it too. I admired it because it exposed the sheer barbarity and inhumanity of the republican mindset which as a former republican I know too well.
- The only bandits we ever saw in South Armagh wore British uniforms...... I often make a mental note to write reviews for numerous items I ve purchased from Amazon, but lazyness usually get the better of me, but, alas, for Toby Harnden s Bandit Country I ve got my arse in gear and decided to contribute to the many other positive reviews, for one simple reason, because this book deserves all the recognition and praise that one can heap upon it. Simple as that.
I had the good fortune of having a mate of mine who owned this book insist on me taking a loan of it, and, somewhat against my will, I did......and as it turned out, I didn t (and couldn t) put it down until I had it finished. Since then, I have purchased my own copy, bought it as a gift for people, loaned it out, and constantly recommended it, that s how much it grabbed me.
As has been mentioned earlier, the author remains highly, and appropriately, impartial, something other British journalists could learn from. As a proud Irish person, admittedly with nationalistic sensitivities, this book has moments that made me feel very proud of the brave, fortright, and outright, resistance demonstrated by the South Armagh Brigade, but as a person against the killing of innocent individuals, it also details incidents that nobody but the most hardened of republicans could attempt to condone or justify.
That s what you get in this book.......an honest account of the bloody, armed struggle that has engulfed a small part of our country for years, and that s what s so very likeable about Harnden s tale, it doesn t try to glorify or condemn, justify or judge.
Instead, it fascinates the reader with the inside workings of a P.I.R.A. Active Service Unit, how the South Armagh Brigade reached notoriety as the most efficient, ruthless, disciplined and feared killing machine in the North and how the British Army struggled to contain them. Outsiders, I m sure, will marvel at how a so-called guerilla army took on the perceived might of the British Army and, on numerous occasions, outwitted and out-manouvered them, successfully making South Armagh a no-go area for outsiders and, statistically, for a time at least, the most dangerous area in the world for British Soldiers to serve.
Readers may also raise an eyebrow when they read of certain British Military personnel s grudging admiration for the IRA s success and proficiency in the battle-field.
I can t say much more that hasn t already been said I think......this book is a stunning, informative and addictive work from start to finish, and whatever your politics are, it would be more than well worth your while to invest in this seminal work on Northern Ireland.
(Just one extra nugget of information, recently a British helicopter crashed in a rural area in South Armagh. No foul-play was involved, but as British Soldiers stood guard over the damaged craft, waiting for it s removal, they came under attack from stones and petrol bombs on two consecutive nights.........although peace in Northern Ireland seems possible, maybe even immiment, it seems that as long as the Imperial forces are on their patch, the fighting men of Crossmaglen are not going to take their presence lying down!) - South Armagh Uncovered.. This book will probably (and judging from some reaction, has) attract readers from outside those who read anything with a relevance to the North, and the struggle, be it from either perspective. This is probably partially because it deals with a specific place, and the events that have happened there over a very long period of time. It also places these events in their context, the context of the long series of wars that have ravaged Ireland.
Included in this chronology of wars, interestingly, is the Irish War of Independence, and also the Civil War that followed. Books that deal with the Civil War in an unbiased way are pretty thin on the ground, and it was refreshing to read of the local scene, in the preparation for war once it was clear that Collins’ way, and the way of South Armagh, could not be reconciled. A fascinating read, and this book should have paved the way for more such works. “Ballymurphy and the Irish War” was a decent offering, but the potential still remains for more work to explore, and tease out the intricacies of the Troubles in this way. This is especially salient given that Paul Murphy is making noises about how great he thinks the Truth And Reconciliation Forum in South Africa is. There is clearly going to be a demand for personalised, and localised stories pertaining to the Troubles in the future, and books such as this, with the level of painstaking research that goes hand-in-had with them, are going to be particularly valuable. South Armagh is, somewhat notoriously, the most clannish of all geographical republican families, with the book detailing how members of the same families were British security targets from the 1920s to the 1990s. This places in true context how important this book is as a study of the development over time of the civil strife on a local level, and as such, is of value to anyone with even a passing interest in the subject. - A well researched and fascinating book. For a long time I’ve looked for a book that gives a fair description of the history of the IRA and the “Troubles” – this book described itself as that and is certainly not far off the mark. The subject area is not the whole history of the IRA but instead is focussed on South Armagh, the home of the IRA’s South Armagh Brigade. Famous for being the toughest posting for a soldier from the British Army, South Armagh sits on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the forefront of the modern-day Troubles.
The book is incredibly well-researched with extensive quotes from members of the IRA, British Army, politicians from both Ireland and Britain, as well as locals who have lived throughout events that have so often led the news.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to get an insight into the roots of what has happened in South Armagh in the past 30 years, without being overburderned with the author’s political opinion – the author Toby Harnden does an excellent job in my view in remaining completely impartial.
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Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh (ID: 034071736X)
