On Bloody Sunday

A New History of the Day and Its Aftermath - by the People Who Were There

By: Julieann Campbell

Narrated by: Annie Farr, Eleanor Methven, Gordon Griffin, Julieann Campbell, Maggie Ollerenshaw, Melanie MacHugh, Niall Cusack, Pat Lynch, Simon Nelson

Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

In January 1972, a peaceful civil rights march in Northern Ireland ended in bloodshed. Troops from Britain's 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment opened fire on marchers, leaving 13 dead and 15 wounded. Seven of those killed were teenage boys. The day became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.

The events occurred in broad daylight and in the full glare of the press. Within hours, the British military informed the world that they had won an 'IRA gun battle'. This became the official narrative for decades until a family-led campaign instigated one of the most complex inquiries in history.

In 2010, the victims of Bloody Sunday were fully exonerated when Lord Saville found that the majority of the victims were either shot in the back as they ran away or were helping someone in need. The report made headlines all over the world.

While many buried the trauma of that day, historian and campaigner Juliann Campbell - whose teenage uncle was the first to be killed that day - felt the need to keep recording these interviews and collecting rare and unpublished accounts, aware of just how precious they were. Fifty years on, in this book, survivors, relatives, eyewitnesses and politicians shine a light on the events of Bloody Sunday, together, for the first time.

As they tell their stories, the tension, confusion and anger build with an awful power. On Bloody Sunday unfolds before us an extraordinary human drama, as we experience one of the darkest moments in modern history - and witness the true human cost of conflict.

©2022 Julieann Campbell (P)2022 Octopus Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"A momentous chronicle, timely and vital, which highlights that the burden of change rests, as always, upon the shoulders of those who suffered and yet, have nurtured the desire that lessons be learned." (Michael Mansfield, QC, who represented a number of families during the Bloody Sunday inquiry)

"It's a wonderful book. The technique used - multiple voices speaking directly to us - is very simple but it has a profound effect. It puts us into the middle of the chaos of Bloody Sunday and keeps us there throughout the grief and anger that follow. A wonderful, wonderful book." (Jimmy McGovern, BAFTA-winning screenwriter, creator of Sunday, 2002)

Brilliant

Loved this book so much. It will stay with me for a long time. Thank you Juliann Campbell for helping me gain a full understanding not only of the events in Derry NI but also for the historical background. You have created a fabulous tribute to the poor souls who lost their lives and their courageous family’s

Accurate and heartbreaking

Excellent, the narrators are often the people involved. A truly personal but broad history of an event lied about for decades to cover the guilt of the soldiers and their commanders.

The depth of information is incredible.

As an Irish, American Catholic, I could not stop reading the book. I just wish it was more widely red so that more people would understand what the troubles was all about and to not let it happen again anywhere else in the world.