Operation Chiffon : The Secret Story of MI5 and MI6 and the Road to Peace in Ireland
30 In Stock
9781526659637
April 1998: the Good Friday Agreement is signed, ending decades of violence and bloodshed in Northern Ireland. The process of getting the IRA to end its 'armed struggle' was always the prerequisite of the search for peace.
It was Operation Chiffon that finally helped make it possible. Operation Chiffon takes us inside the top-secret intelligence operation whose roots go back to the bloodiest years of the conflict in the early 1970s, involving officers from MI6 and, later in the 1990s, MI5. The remarkable story, which has remained hidden for forty years, is now revealed by legendary BBC journalist Peter Taylor with unique access to the officers involved.
Drawing on exclusive interviews and Taylor's fifty years of covering the conflict, the book narrates in first-hand detail how those involved risked their careers and their lives to help secure the fragile peace that exists today. Taylor vividly brings this covert operation to life and in the process chronicles the history of Sinn Fein, rising from obscurity in the early days of the Troubles to becoming the largest political party in Ireland today. It is a story fraught with uncertainty and danger that, as Brexit risks destabilising what was achieved in the Good Friday Agreement twenty-five years ago, is more important than ever to remember.
Books and gifts - £3.50 post and packing per order, UK addresses.
-£20.00 post and packing per order, Overseas addresses.
Art and craft - post and packing individually priced.
Orders will be shipped by second class postage. Please allow 3 - 5 days for your order to be processed.
CLICK AND COLLECT - we aim to have your order ready for collection within 3 working days, but will email you to let you know when it is available to save you having a wasted journey.
Collection from:
Wigtown Festival Company
11 North Main Street
Wigtown
DG8 9HN
Related Products
From this Collection
-
Scotland: The Global History: 1603 to the PresentAn engaging and aut...An engaging and authoritative history of Scotland's influence in the world and the world's on Scotland, from the Thirty Years War to the present day  Scotland is one o... -
Blood in the Machine : The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big TechThe most urgent sto...The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than star... -
Who Were the Martyrs of Wigtown?In Wigtown, South West Scotland, there...
In Wigtown, South West Scotland, there is a stake out at sea to commemorate the drownings of two women in 1685. Who were these women and why were they drowned? Lindsay Banks weaves the sto...
-
Alexander Murray: Galloway's Self-Taught GeniusJack Hunter attempts to allocate Alexander M...
Jack Hunter attempts to allocate Alexander Murray his rightful place in the pantheon of Scottish geniuses by making clear the formidable difficulties he had to surmount in his brief career and t...
-
Scotland Rising: The Case for Independencehe Scottish indepen...he Scottish independence debate has consequences for Scotland, British politics, the future of the UK - and internationally. In Scotland Rising, Gerry Hassan addresses t... -
A Passion for Castles: The Story of MacGibbon and Ross and the Castles they SurveyedIn the 1880s two Edinburgh architects began ...
In the 1880s two Edinburgh architects began to survey, measure and sketch the castles of Scotland, travelling the length and breadth of the country on trains, bicycles and on foot. Together they...
-
For Freedom Alone: The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320The Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April, 1320, is ...The Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April, 1320, is one of the most remarkable documents to have been produced anywhere in medieval Europe. Quoted by many, understood by few, its historical significance... -
Scottish Bothy Bible: The complete guide to Scotland s bothies and how to reach themThis first ever com...This first ever complete guide to Scottish bothies reveals the country's unique and often hidden network of bothy cabins and mountain huts. Scattered across Scotland's m... -
The Fight for Scottish Democracy: Rebellion and Reform in 1820Three Scottish weav...Three Scottish weavers, James Wilson, Andrew Hardie and John Baird, were hanged and beheaded for high treason in the summer of 1820. Nineteen more men were transported t... -
The Lochs of Scotland: The comprehensive guide to Scotland's most fabulous inland and sea lochsThere are at least ...There are at least 31,460 freshwater lochs in Scotland, and hundreds of sea lochs. This stunning book showcases more than 50 of the most popular, interesting and beautif... -
Scotland: A Literary Guide for TravellersWith its vibrant ci...With its vibrant cities and breath-taking landscapes, Scotland has captivated writers and visitors for centuries and inspired a diverse range of literature, from the rel... -
Lonely Planet ScotlandLonely Planet's ...
Lonely Planet's Scotland is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Taste local varietie...
-
The Lowland Clearances: Scotland's Silent Revolution 1760 - 1830The Highland Clearances are a well-documented episode in Scotland's past but they were not unique. The process began in the Scottish Lowlands ne...
Scott-land: The Man Who Invented a NationNo writer has ever ...No writer has ever been as famous as Sir Walter Scott once was; and no writer has ever enjoyed such huge acclaim followed by such absolute neglect and outright hostility...
Way of the Wanderers: The Story of Travellers in ScotlandTV programmes like ...TV programmes like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, books like Gypsy Boy and the recent disturbances at Dale Farm have created enormous interest in the history and lifestyle of...
A Tour in Scotland, 1769Thomas Pennant's first tour of Scotlan...
Thomas Pennant's first tour of Scotland started at Chester in 1769. Passing through Yorkshire and Durham he paid a brief visit to the Farne Islands in a coble - 'a hazardous species of boa...
Scotland: The New State of an Old NationScotland's future i...Scotland's future in the Union is in question. Since Devolution in 1997, there has been a sea-change in Scotland's sense of itself. A distinct Scottish political culture...
We Are All Witches: Bad Women to Live Your Life byFrom 1563 to 1736 S...From 1563 to 1736 Scotland put thousands of women to death for witchcraft. Their supposed crimes have much to tell us about attitudes to women in the past, and in the pr...
Chaos Monkeys: Inside the Silicon Valley Money MachineAn adrenaline-fu...
An adrenaline-fuelled exposé of life inside the tech bubble, Chaos Monkeys lays bare the secrets, power plays and lifestyle excesses of the visionaries, grunts, socio...
Jugaad Yatra: Exploring the Indian Art of Problem SolvingI...India’s Mangalyaan mission to Mars and the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, are two of the country’s most celebrated achievements in recent times. ...
Musical OfferingA lyrical celebrati...A lyrical celebration of storytelling, of childhood, and of the transformative power of music. Tracing a circular course that echoes Bach's Goldberg Variations , Luis Sa...
A Smell of Burning: The Story of EpilepsyOne day Colin Grant's teenage brother ...
One day Colin Grant's teenage brother Christopher failed to emerge from the bathroom. His family broke down the door to find him unconscious on the floor. None of their lives were ever the...
Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of EugenicsHow did an obscure ...How did an obscure academic idea pave the way to the Holocaust within just fifty years? Why does eugenics still loom large in the 21st century, despite its genocidal pas...
The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi FugitiveAs Governor of Gali...As Governor of Galicia, SS Brigadefuhrer Otto Freiherr von Wachter presided over an authority on whose territory hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed, inc...
Personal Narratives of Irish and Scottish Migration, 1921-65Between 1921 and 19...Between 1921 and 1965, Irish and Scottish migrants continued to seek new homes abroad. Using the personal accounts of these migrants from letters, interviews, questionna...
The Curtain and the Wall: A Modern Journey Along Europe's Cold War BorderA landmark journey ...A landmark journey along the full length of the old Iron Curtain - from the Arctic Circle to Turkey's eastern border - tracing the history of the Cold War and meeting th...
The War of the PoorThe history of ineq...The history of inequality is a long and terrible one. And it's not over yet. Short, sharp and devastating, The War of the Poor tells the story of a brutal episode from h...
An Empire On The Edge: How Britain Came To Fight AmericaIn this powerful na...In this powerful narrative, Nick Bunker tells the story of the last three years of mutual embitterment that preceded the outbreak of America's war for independence in 17...
A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed By the Rise of FascismHidden deep in the Bavarian mountains ...
Hidden deep in the Bavarian mountains lies the picturesque village of Oberstdorf - a place where for hundreds of years people lived simple lives while history was made elsewhere.
The Piano: A History in 100 PiecesAn astonishingly ve...An astonishingly versatile instrument, the piano allows just two hands to play music of great complexity and subtlety. For more than two hundred years, it has brought so...
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our WorldThe ground-breaking...The ground-breaking story of Nomadic peoples on the move across history. Humans have been on the move for most of history. Even after the great urban advancement lured p...
Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of ScotsOne of the most famous queens in history, Mary ...One of the most famous queens in history, Mary Stuart lived in her homeland for just twelve years: as a dauntless child who laughed at her friends' seasickness as they sailed to safety in France an...
The Lion House: The Rise of Suleyman the MagnificentIntelligence arrive...Intelligence arrives from the east confirming Europe's greatest fear: the vastly rich Ottoman Sultan has all he needs to wage total war - and his sights are set on Rome....
The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile EnvironmentHow do you pack for...How do you pack for a one-way journey back to a country you left when you were eleven and have not visited for fifty years?Amelia Gentleman's exposé of the Windrush scan...
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of EmpireFrom the first time...From the first time he was stopped and searched as a child, to the day he realised his mum was white, to his first encounters with racist teachers - race and class have ...
Mapping the Past: A Search for Five Brothers at the Edge of EmpireCharles Drazin knew little about his mother's f...Charles Drazin knew little about his mother's father only that he had been a military surveyor who mapped great swathes of the British Empire. But when his mother was told that she was dying, it pr...
Share Power: How ordinary people can change the way that capitalism works – and make money tooIn this scintillati...In this scintillating book, award-winning financial commentator Merryn Somerset Webb reveals a much-overlooked fact; every share we own comes with a vote. What few peopl...
The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American HistoryDiscover the truth ...Discover the truth about the Black Hand, as featured in Peaky Blinders Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire...
Victoria & Abdul: The Extraordinary True Story of the Queen's Closest ConfidantThe tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-...The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail,...
The Broken Journey: A Life of Scotland 1976–1999This is the second ...This is the second volume of Kenneth Roy's magisterial trilogy on the history of Scotland since the Second World War. The first volume, The Invisible Spirit: A Life of P...
A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Secret Game that Revolutionised the War1941. The Battle of the Atlantic is a disast...
1941. The Battle of the Atlantic is a disaster. Thousands of supply ships ferrying vital food and fuel from North America to Britain are being torpedoed by German U-boats.
Britain is only...
Borderland: A Journey Through the History of UkraineFlat, fertile, and ...Flat, fertile, and fatally tempting to invaders, for centuries Ukraine was fought over by more powerful neighbours. Though its modern national movement dates back to the...
The Water KingdomSelected as a Book ...Selected as a Book of the Year by The Times and The EconomistChina's history is an epic tapestry of courtly philosophies, warring factions and imperial intrigue. Yet, ov...
Hidden Heritage: Rediscovering Britain’s Relationship with the OrientWhy was there a Turkish mosque adorning Britain...Why was there a Turkish mosque adorning Britain's most famous botanic garden in in the eighteenth century? And more importantly, why is it no longer there? How did one of the great symbols of an In...
Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family’s Story of SlaveryWhen British Caribb...When British Caribbean slavery was abolished across most of the British Empire in 1833, it was not the newly liberated who received compensation, but the tens of thousan...
Mid-Georgian BritainMid-Georgian Britain was a period of both elega...Mid-Georgian Britain was a period of both elegance and desperation. As the middle and upper classes enjoyed their wealth with an increasing range of consumer goods, the poor endured debtor's prison...
Buried: An alternative history of the first millennium in BritainFunerary rituals sh...Funerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality; how they felt about loss; what they believed came next. From Roman cremations and graveside feasts, to devi...
Sailor's Heart: A story of courage and cowardiceBased on true event...Based on true events. 1942. The war at sea is being lost.
One per cent of all naval...Recently Viewed Products
