ON BLOODY SUNDAY 30.1.1972

'My mother warned me to look after our John - he was only 17 and too young to go on the marches. I said he'd be fine with his friends. He took shelter at the rubble barricade they shot him in the face. I'd been arrested by the British Army and taken away while trying to get someone else to hospital. The boy we were helping died.' Sub-titled 'A New History of the Day And Its Aftermath by Those Who Were There', the book is dedicated to the people of Derry 'who have never given up in their pursuit of truth, justice and civil rights.' In January 1972, soldiers from Britain's 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment opened fire on a peaceful civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland, leaving 13 dead and 18 injured. Within hours, they informed the world that they had won an 'IRA gun battle', an official narrative that stuck for decades. In 2012, Lord Saville found the British Army fired first, and that most victims were either shot in the back while running away or helping someone in need. Seven of the killed were teenage boys. Oral historian Julieann Campbell's 17 year uncle was the first person killed. Over the years she has recorded dozens of interviews and gathered rare, unseen accounts in order to better understand the tension, confusion and anger of the times. Now 50 years on and for the first time, this remarkable book weaves together the experiences of survivors, relatives, eyewitnesses and politicians to recall events as it was lived and gives extraordinary insight into one of the darkest moments in modern history and a reminder of the true human cost of conflict. It weaves a narrative of personal reflection and testimony from more than 110 speakers affected by the events and 20 of these interviews have never been published before. With archive pictures such as the Springtown Camp January 1964, map of the Bogside area, chapters include Snipers In William Street, Word Spreads, A Cover-Up Begins, Nail Bombs and Hate Mail and The Funerals. 446pp, many illus.