Traditionally, political history tends to place an emphasis on party leaders instead of the backbenchers who are often literally reduced to footnotes to better-known personalities. While a study of every backbencher in the Irish Parliamentary Party during the third home rule crises might prove useful to a select number of experts in the field, it would be ultimately unwieldy. McConnel smartly explores the Irish Party's structure and influence thematically through thirteen chapters grouped into four parts. The result is a biography of the Irish Parliamentary Party as a living and breathing entity.

Because the Irish Party, for a variety of reasons, has often been regarded as hopelessly corrupt or ineffective, the attempt to address the party in a variety of contexts is timely and useful. In an early outstanding contribution, McConnel's work examines the perception of a corrupt or ineffective party, which largely stems from William O'Brien's interpretation of events, one that has muddied the historical waters, something Paul Bew has commented upon (14). Citing a slew of cases, McConnel concludes that while some of the party's reputation is based on fabrication, “the crude tactics of the AOH [Ancient Order of Hibernians] lent conspiracy theories credibility” (67). A work that can penetrate into the often confusing parliamentary past of Ireland and declare this so early is itself impressive. It also immediately sets the tone for how the subject matter will be treated: a subtly bold work that is not afraid to go so far as to accuse prominent interpretations of historical events as being stripped of “scholarly understandings of Victorian and Edwardian” issues (143).

The narrative technique begins with an introduction to the party: its membership, its organization, and its purpose. Several subsequent chapters illuminate the Irish Party's interaction with more advanced nationalist tendencies. Just as the party is allowed to present itself against O'Brien's accusations, McConnel claims that advanced nationalist groups and cultural institutions have “been the subject of considerable revision” (143) in Irish history, and even an icon like Eoin MacNeill is given a light reprimand for having a “recollection” that was “misleading in several respects” (147) in regard to the Irish Party's relationship with the Gaelic Athletic Association. The assertion is backed up with the statements and actions of prominent Irish Party members, such as John and Willie Redmond, as well as relative unknown politicians such as Alfred Webb and William Rooney.

While challenging misconceptions about the Irish Party, McConnel's work also makes much-needed additional contributions to modern Irish historiography. It is hard to imagine that the chapter about the Fenian interaction with the Irish Party will not be read with particular interest. It is also a welcome addition to Leon Ó Broin's work on the subject. But perhaps a greater addition is the book's treatment of the Dublin Lock-Out and the Irish Party. McConnel addresses the dilemma certainly felt by many Irish Party members, torn between supporting labor, as their professed sympathy should have dictated, and their opposition to contributing to chaos in Ireland on the eve of home rule. The inaction of the Irish Party is partially explained: “In Ireland it was unusual, though not unheard of, for an MP to involve himself in a local dispute” (172). Here there is a parallel, not explicitly made, with the tension in the structure of the party established at the beginning of the book, a “suspicion often lingering not far beneath the surface that non-native MPs could not properly represent their constituents” (51).

The Dublin Lock-Out has been interpreted as a predecessor to revolution, and a more explicit link with the tensions within the Irish Party would be fascinating. Party policy dictated that “home rule would solve all of Ireland's social and economic problems” (177) and is touched upon in relation to the Dublin Lock-Out. But it is not elaborated upon until later in the book in a separate context when it is mentioned that labor was to be subordinate to the Irish Party for fear of slowing home rule (230). This kind of piecemeal reading is an unfortunate limitation of the format of the book, but one that cannot be avoided. In treating the functional end of the Irish Party, McConnel uses the Irish Party's relationship with the volunteer movement and the First World War as a way to continue to complicate a historical narrative (143). This is mostly successful, though much ink is spent going over the Irish Party's initial interaction with the volunteer movement and scarcely more than a page is spent on the relation of the party to their official agency, the National Volunteers (294–96).

The great detail is often the most frustrating part of the book. In addition to setting high expectations for intricacies where there may be few details provided (as in the case of the National Volunteers), there are times that the broader point is lost in the very details that give the work its strength. A reader might find details about Philip O'Doherty's parliamentary experience (63) tedious, even while being grateful for hearing about the dining habits of Matthias Bodkin when these help shed light on the allegations that the Irish Party was too comfortable in Westminster (158). However, the book magnificently creates an image of the party as it may have existed without reducing it to a foil for other groups in Irish history. Finally, a book the party deserves.