PositiveThe Wall Street Journal\"Ms. Fraser writes with verve and lightness of touch, even when dealing with intractable political argument. Readers unfamiliar with the intricacies of Regency politics will learn much from her spirited retelling, though her book, being based mainly on printed and secondary sources, retells much that is already known ... O’Connell’s religious legacy has been powerfully ambivalent... But the activities of the Catholic Association undoubtedly contributed to an escalation in Irish sectarianism, and O’Connell’s political dependence on the local influence of the Catholic parish clergy was a milestone in the embroilment of the Catholic Church in Irish society, which has recently so spectacularly unraveled. Some reflection on these complex long-term consequences of Emancipation would have enhanced the reader’s sense of the contemporary relevance of the struggles the author so vividly describes.\
