Family, Economy and Government in Ireland by Finola Kennedy, ESRI General Research Series, Paper No. 143, 1989. This book is, essentially, a compilation of existing research (particularly of the descriptive statistical kind) on the fortunes of the family in Irish society over the last 50 years, the family being defined as the marriage-based family. The analysis focuses on demographic trends, labour force patterns, the legal framework and the impact of government policies, particularly in the fields of social welfare and taxation, on the family. The book is clearly written and is very accessible to the non-specialist reader. As it brings together data from disparate sources, especially in the economic, legal and demographic areas, it will be a useful source book for all those researching in the Family Studies field. Those who are specialist in particular areas of family research, however, will probably be familiar with the data presented in their own particular field. Although the author has ensured that the evidence presented is up to date, the book faces the same problem that all research works relying heavily on descriptive statistics are confronted with, namely, that its findings are likely to become dated within a short time.