1
of
1
Big Boys' Rules
The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 332 ratings, 12 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3699
Unit price
/
Unavailable
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER
Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks
Found a better price? Request a price match
Big Boys' Rules
$3699
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Essential reading for those interested in British and Irish history, intelligence operations, and political conflict, as well as readers seeking a detailed, insider perspective on The Troubles.
Latest News
The Book Briefing - September 16th
This week there are so many exciting new book announcements out and about with covers,...
Every crime/thriller Novel Lizzy has read this year (so far!)
Lizzy is sharing her crime and thriller reads for 2026 so far and giving you...
New Releases to add to your TBR this week (16th September)
We had some exciting new releases arrive with some huge names in fiction, a highly...
Lizzy's Top 5 Board Games
Lizzy is sharing her top 5 Board Games including her favourite cooperative games, two-player options,...
New Hero Alert! Meet Jade - our new Warehouse Sidekick
Weโre thrilled to welcome Jade to the Book Hero team! Itโs not always easy to...
See more
The SAS describes its attitude to the use of lethal force as 'Big boys' games, big boys' rules'.
Mark Urban's Big Boys' Rules portrays the violent and increasingly desperate struggle between the SAS and the IRA during the troubles of recent Irish history.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
In this book, defence specialist and war correspondent Mark Urban explores covert operations against the IRA from the mid-1970s to the Loughgall shooting in 1987.
Drawing on interviews with people who have served at the heart of intelligence and special operations in Ulster, as well as with members of paramilitary groups, Big Boys' Rules examines the roles of the army, the police and special branch, as well as both MI5 and MI6.
The book also looks at the shoot to kill allegations, and records members of the security forces describing the deliberate deception of the press and courts in Ulster.
The author reveals many details including the events which lead up to the killing of eight IRA members in May 1987 in the village of Loughgall.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780571168095
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 23 September 1996
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 17.0mm
Width: 128.0mm
Height: 197.0mm
Weight: 235g
Pages: 304
About the Author
Mark Urban is the Diplomatic Editor of the BBC's 'Newsnight' and was formerly defence correspondent for the Independent. He has covered many wars and is remembered for live broadcasts under a Scud attack in Saudi Arabia in 1991 or while being fired upon in Kosovo. His books include Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle against the IRA, described by John Stalker as 'a book which needed to be written', and UK Eyes Alpha: Inside British Intelligence, which the Sunday Times found 'accurate, revelatory and fascinating'.
Also by Mark Urban
View all-
Red Devils
A gripping, widely-praised, authorised history of the Parachute Regiment in World War Two. In this gripping, authorised account, bestselling historian Mark Urban tells the story of the wartime creation and development of Britain's elite airborne infantryโwho ranged from circus performers to solicitors, policemen to gravediggers, Christians and Jews to communists. Through the fates of six menโincluding recently widowed Geoffrey Pine-Coffin,...Paperback$2700Elsewhere:$3000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Tank
An authoritative history of the tank and the remarkable individuals who designed them and fought in them, from a former soldier and best-selling historian. Tanks are the ultimate embodiment of industrial age warfare. In the popular imagination, they represent both a terrifying beast of destruction and a potent symbol of liberation. The technology behind these war machines has evolved relentlessly,...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Fusiliers
From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. With a wealth of previously unused primary accounts, Mark Urban reveals the inner life of the regimentโand, through it, of the British army as a wholeโas it fought one of...Paperback$3699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Tank
An authoritative history of the tank and the remarkable individuals who designed them and fought in them, from a former soldier and best-selling historian. Punchy. Trenchant. Heavyweight. Mark Urban's Tank blows the doors off, just as you'd expect from such an accomplished author. Take cover! โ Damien Lewis, author of SAS Great Escapes Tanks are the ultimate embodiment of industrial...Paperback$3000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Skripal Files
A scrupulous piece of reporting, necessary, timely and very sobering โ John Le Carrรฉ A Sunday Times Best Book of 2018 Agent. Prisoner. Target. Who is Sergei Skripal? 4 March 2018, Salisbury, England. A man and his daughter are found slumped on a bench, poisoned by the deadly nerve agent Novichok. He was a Russian national that became a MI6...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Tank War
From the evacuation of France in 1940 to the final dash to Hamburg in 1945, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment were on the front line throughout the Second World War. Theirs was a war that saw them serve in Africa as part of the Desert Rats, before returning to Europe for the Normandy landings. Wherever they went, the notoriety of...PaperbackSold Out
More from Politics & Current Affairs
View all-
One Last Question, Prime Minister
From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseFacing Up to Our Future
New Zealand's traditional โshe'll be rightโ optimism is no longer adequate to the challenges facing the country.ย Facing Up to Our Future: Challenges and Choices for New Zealandย brings together 21 of the country's leading thinkers to confront the long-term pressures shaping the nation's next decades. Edited by Emeritus Professor Peter Davis, the collection ranges widely, covering issues as diverse as...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseRegime Change
From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House and the first year of his second presidency. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administrationโs most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader into...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseA Different Kind of Power
#1 New Zealand bestseller #1 Amazon bestseller #2 Audible bestseller #3 New York Times bestseller #3 Sunday Times bestseller #4 Australian bestseller From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the worldโs youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Ockham WinnerA Different Kind of Power
What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made...Hardback$4799Elsewhere:$5999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Suicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed CopyNew Release
Go Hard or Go Home
From the front bench to rock bottom:ย Go Hard or Go Homeย is Kiri Allan's fearless memoir of ambition, disruption and survival in NZ politics and beyond. Kiri Allan's six-year political career spanned some of the most challenging times in recent history. Events a government might encounter once in a generation stacked up: a terrorist attack, a volcanic eruption, destructive and deadly...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four
In the drab and oppressive world of 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell introduces us to Winston Smith, a man haunted by the omnipresent surveillance and control exercised by the Party and its enigmatic leader, Big Brother. Winston works diligently at the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to alter historical records to fit the ever-changing narrative dictated by the...Paperback$1299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Cauldron
How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state? THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING...Hardback$4999Elsewhere:$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Discipline
Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Handmaid's Tale
The bestselling dystopian classic that became a cultural phenomenon and inspired an award-winning TV series. THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series. 'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it.' Guardian I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no...Paperback$2000Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shameless, Brian Tyler Cohen explores how Republicans have abused power, how Democrats have refused to exercise power when they held it, and how progressives should wield power if they are fortunate enough to win a free and fair election in a post-Trump world. The Day After: How to Wield Power in...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
Politics & Current Affairs lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
