Items related to Shadows
Synopsis
In the early hours of 30 April 2003, three police Land-Rovers arrived at the door of Alan Barker. Twelve armed and uniformed officers accompanied by four plain-clothes detectives entered the house. They stayed for four hours, turning over rooms, seizing bundles of documents, impounding computers, disks, files and anything else that interested them. The family subjected to this dawn raid were treated as common criminals, the operation resembling so many others in Northern Ireland over the Troubles when police and troops swooped on the homes of terrorist suspects. But Alan Barker was and is no terrorist. In fact, he has spent his adult life fighting terrorism on the streets of his native province. Alan Barker belonged to Special Branch, the RUC's elite unit dedicated to fighting the IRA, the INLA and loyalist terrorists. From the first days of his career in the RUC, when he was almost lured to his death by an IRA Mata-Hari, to his running of agents who inflicted major damage on the Provisionals in Derry, Barker gives a gripping inside account from the front-line struggle against terrorism. He demonstrates how the RUC had inside knowledge of IRA political and military thinking in the build-up to and after the historic 1994 ceasefire, using not only informants but also sophisticated listening devices. The book also details how one of Barker's key intelligence assets, Raymond Gilmour, caused chaos within the ranks of first the Derry INLA and later the IRA. Alan Barker faces the wrath of the State for detailing how the war on terrorism in Britain's backyard resulted ultimately in those who waged that war left feeling betrayed and let down. Shadows will have an explosive impact on the Northern Ireland peace process and those who have shaped its direction for the last decade.
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About the Author
Alan Barker was born in Belfast in 1955 and joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1973. After three years as a uniform constable he transferred into Special Branch, where he remained for 26 years until his retirement in 2002. Barker now resides in the south of England, where he is self-employed.
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Search results for Shadows
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Shadows: Inside Northern Ireland's Special Branch
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR003114632
Quantity: 3 available
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Shadows: Inside Northern Ireland's Special Branch
Published by
Mainstream Publishing, 2004
ISBN 10: 1840187530
ISBN 13: 9781840187533
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: killarneybooks, Inagh, CLARE, Ireland
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. 1st Edition. Hardcover, 240pp + 8 pages of colour and b&w plates, NOT ex-library. Several numbers in pencil on the front endpaper. Extensive writing (a letter?) covering the rear blank endpaper & pastedown. Pages are gently age-yellowed around the edges, remain clean, untanned, with unmarked text, free of stamps, firmly bound. Faint age discolourations on page edges externally. Average worn dust jacket: shelfworn with loads of faint marks and scratches, some indentations, frayed tips of corners, small edge-nicks, moderate creasing along the edges, long creases on both flaps. Price concealed on the front flap (jacket is not clipped). -- In this explosive book, Alan Barker gives a gripping inside account of the inner workings of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's elite Special Branch and its struggle against terrorism, a struggle which resulted in those who waged that war feeling ultimately betrayed and let down. -- In the early hours of 30 April 2003, three police Land-Rovers arrived at the door of Alan Barker. Twelve armed and uniformed officers accompanied by four plain-clothes detectives entered the house. They stayed for four hours, turning over rooms, seizing bundles of documents, impounding computers, disks, files and anything else that interested them. The family subjected to this dawn raid were treated as common criminals, the operation resembling so many others in Northern Ireland over the Troubles when police and troops swooped on the homes of terrorist suspects. But Alan Barker was and is no terrorist. In fact, he has spent his adult life fighting terrorism on the streets of his native province. Alan Barker belonged to Special Branch, the RUC's elite unit dedicated to fighting the IRA, the INLA and loyalist terrorists. From the first days of his career in the RUC, when he was almost lured to his death by an IRA Mata-Hari, to his running of agents who inflicted major damage on the Provisionals in Derry, Barker gives a gripping inside account from the front-line struggle against terrorism. He demonstrates how the RUC had inside knowledge of IRA political and military thinking in the build-up to and after the historic 1994 ceasefire, using not only informants but also sophisticated listening devices. The book also details how one of Barker's key intelligence assets, Raymond Gilmour, caused chaos within the ranks of first the Derry INLA and later the IRA. Alan Barker faces the wrath of the State for detailing how the war on terrorism in Britain's backyard resulted ultimately in those who waged that war left feeling betrayed and let down. Shadows will have an explosive impact on the Northern Ireland peace process and those who have shaped its direction for the last decade. -- Contents: Introduction; Prologue: A Brush with the Assassin; 1. Middle-Eastern Experience; 2. Teenage Kicks; 3. In Training; 4. Armagh: A Rude Awakening; 5. A Baptism Under Fire; 6. Hatred and Love in One City; 7. A Sense of Loss; 8. Special Branch: A New Career; 9. No Justification for Murder; 10. Operational Successes and Failures; 11. Agent Recruitment; 12. Recruiting Raymond; 13. Fighting Back Against Terrorism; 14. A Brush with Death: Infiltrating the IRA; 15. The Hunger Strike: No Time to Relax; 16. Agents Are Not Above the Law; 17. M60 Recovered; 18. The Supergrass Trial; 19. Republican or Loyalist: It Made No Difference; 20. The Technological War; Epilogue: Loyalty Counts for Nothing. Seller Inventory # 006186
Quantity: 1 available