*PRE ORDER FOR 18th APRIL RELEASE* Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh

New edition of one of the most celebrated books on the Troubles.

Famously described as 'Bandit Country' by Merlyn Rees when he was Northern Ireland Secretary, for nearly three decades South Armagh was the most dangerous posting in the world for a British soldier.

In this acclaimed work of reportage, originally published in 2000, Toby Harnden stripped away the myth and propaganda associated with the region to produce one of the most compelling and important books on the Troubles. Drawing on secret documents and interviews on South Armagh's recent history, Harnden told the inside story of how the IRA came close to bringing the British state to its knees.

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.