Modern Ireland: 1600-1972

A very valuable pioneering study, a notable contribution to Irish social and political history in the nineteenth century. An interpretation of striking originality...it must take its place at once as one of the best studies of Parnell that has yet appeared and as a distinguished opening to what has every promise of being a distinguished career. This fine study of the family and local environment that shaped the enigmatic statesman significantly enhances understanding both Parnell and nineteenth-century Ireland. The book is thoroughly researched, and both skillful and convincing in weighing the conflicting memoirs of this period, tragic Anglo-Irish family. The author also brilliantly locates the Parnells, including Charles, in terms of the atypical milieu of County Wicklow.