This book is the first of a two-volume survey of Irish history in the early modern period. In his introduction, Connolly, Professor of Irish History at Queen’s University, Belfast, explains that he wanted to produce a ‘narrative of multiple transformations’ which relies on ‘incident and experience’ rather than ‘generalization’. He is as good as his word. Throughout the book narrative lines are clearly drawn and consistently followed in a crisp, workmanlike style. Individual chapters are masterpieces of succinct summary, bringing together a wealth of secondary literature and offering fresh insights into the political complexity of early modern Ireland, particularly with regard to the greasy compromises worked out between the Irish state and predatory land-grabbers, lay and clerical. Connolly’s judgement that ‘gender was less important than the facts of effective power’ (72) is apposite and his discussion of the Gaelic–English interface, where he treats, with tantalizing brevity, the problem of balancing narrative with interpretation (158 ff.) is both perceptive and valuable. Inevitably, the adoption of a narrative approach results in some fairly lengthy descriptive passages. Some of these, notably in Chapters 3 (‘The Fall of the House of Kildare’) and 6 (‘Tyrone’s Rebellion’) may prove mildly rebarbative to seasoned campaigners.