The newest, and now the largest, regiment in the British Army, the UDR was raised in 1970 to replace the infamous, all-Protestant auxiliary policy force, the "B Specials". Despite a substantial number of Catholics originally joining the Regiment, it is now, after a campaign of intimidation and murder by the IRA, 97 per cent Protestant, and its reputation has been marred, in Catholic eyes, by the involvement of UDR soldiers in a catalogue of crime and Loyalist terrorism. A spate of leaks of sensitive security information in 1989, and evidence that this was used to target IRA suspects for murder, has now called the regiment's future into question. This book examines the history of the UDR and the future as its role is considered by the Government.

The Ulster Defence Regiment: An instrument of peace?

Engineering & Transportation

Ryder, Chris

Engineering

London : Methuen

A hard-hitting investigation into the history, politics and personalities behind the annual Drumcree stand-off, a conflict at the heart of the problems still facing Northern Ireland.

Drumcree:Orange Orders Last

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

A&C Black

The year of 1995 was the first summer of peace in Northern Ireland-except for the small market town of Portadown. There, in defiance of the wishes of the Catholic residents of the Garvaghy Road, the local lodge of the Protestant Orange Order insisted on their traditional march down the road on the way back from their annual church parade at Drumcree. The subsequent yearly stand-offs have gone down in political history and are chronicled in this comprehensive and absorbing study, fully updated for this paperback edition. "Drumcree: The Orange Order's Last Stand is part of a slowly expanding literature that sheds light on the Protestant mentality of Northern Ireland."-Glasgow Herald "Its history of the foundation of the Orange Order at nearby Loughgall and the evolution of Portadown as the Orange Citadel ... is invaluable for aficionados and veterans of this impasse."-Irish Times

Drumcree

This major historical study of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) by one of Northern Ireland's foremost commentators traces the fundamental flaws that haunted its entire service. The Fateful Split is the graphic and often disturbing story of a uniquely controversial institution, from its formation as a barrier between sectarian factions, to its contentious and tragic role in the Troubles of the last thirty years. At the same time, it provides an astonishing background history to more than a century of Irish domestic discord, including Gladstone's failed Home Rule Acts of the late nineteenth century, the partition of Ireland, the horror of the Troubles, and the establishment of the brittle Good Friday Agreement, in which, amid accusations of sectarian bias, the RUC was generally recognized as an impediment to reconciliation and began its transformation into the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The Fateful Split: Catholics and the Royal Ulster Constabulary

History

Americas

METHUEN

The most decorated unit in the British Army 321 Squadron was posted to Northern Ireland to provide bomb disposal expertise. It has attended 50,000 bomb scares, and it is impossible to estimate the number of lives saved by its work. This is a story of incredible human courage, describing the pioneering counterterrorist techniques that have made the squadron so admired.  Chris Ryder is a writer and journalist. He lives in Belfast.

A Special Kind of Courage

Military

The most decorated unit in the British Army 321 Squadron was posted to Northern Ireland to provide bomb disposal expertise. It has attended 50,000 bomb scares, and it is impossible to estimate the number of lives saved by its work. This is a story of incredible human courage, describing the pioneering counterterrorist techniques that have made the squadron so admired. Chris Ryder is a writer and journalist. He lives in Belfast.

A Special Kind of Courage: 321 EOD Squadron Battling the Bombers

Methuen Publishing, Ltd.

This is a journalistic investigation into the Ulster Defence Regiment by a writer who specializes in the politics of Northern Ireland. The UDR, the newest and now the largest regiment in the British Army, has been on active service, fighting terrorism in the province, for a period already twice as long as both World Wars combined. The book offers an account of its history, an examination of its present position and an analysis of its future role. The author also wrote "The RUC: A Force Under Fire".

The Ulster Defence Regiment

Mandarin

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Books by Ryder, Chris