The checkered history of Irish woodlands and the role of the English in their decline and suppression have provided a relatively well-worn path in discussions over the historical development of Ireland, usually centered on events such as Cromwell's “reduction” of Ireland and the persistent destruction of woodlands over many centuries as they were considered to harbor rebels who prevented the full utilization of a potentially resourceful countryside of value to the British crown and who also stood against the beneficial effects of various attempts at plantation and woodland husbandry. Nigel Everett seeks to challenge this view, and especially the legacy of key earlier works by Eileen McCracken (The Irish Woods Since Tudor Times: Their Distribution and Exploitation, 1971) and Eoin Neeson (History of Irish Forestry, 1991). He paints a much more positive view of the scattered persistence of woodlands and English attempts at plantation over the broadly one thousand years of the survey, also laying down a marker for a sequel to take the history nearer to the present day.

Everett's thesis is based on an extremely thorough and detailed analysis of extant documentary evidence, extracts from which form the basis for a large part of the text, and give insights into what was going on across the Irish landscape “beyond the Pale”—that is, outside the immediate confines of Dublin. The traditional pressures on woods are all examined—the continuous demand for pipe and barrel staves, not only internally and from England but also from a range of different trading partners over the years, especially the Spanish and Dutch, highly valued mature timber suitable for shipbuilding, and the later insatiable demands for fuel for ironworking. Warfare and internal strife, particularly the Nine Years’ War and Cromwell's and Elizabeth's impacts are well illustrated, underlining a view of the persistence of an indigenous population in the “wild, howling wilderness” taking advantage of the refuge afforded by woodland and the opportunity it gave to wage war of a different form from that suited to the armies of the Crown.

Everett admits that the history of the woods is “replete with uncertainties, misapprehensions and elements of paradox” and attempts to assess the nature of the sources that provide these problems of interpretation in a very critical way, placing the fate of the woods within the broader history of Ireland. He also admits that the extant documentary evidence is limited and scattered geographically, such that although there is a reasonable case made for a revisionist view of the subject it is the paradoxes that seem to remain, the need to reconcile differing accounts that at times offer descriptions of both rich and substantial timber reserves, yet also describe extents of scrub and waste providing insufficient resources for local populations let alone an international trading and warring nation.

The book is extremely well referenced and illustrated by twenty-seven beautifully reproduced color plates, and for historians of the subject it will no doubt provide a valuable focus and talking point for years to come. For readers outside Ireland, the lack of any maps can make it difficult to place the evidence in some form of spatial context; similarly the index is heavily biased to people and occasional geographical references, lacking a wider coverage that would help those not so familiar with topics and places to refer back to the text for more specific questions. The use of a number of terms—pipe staves and woodkerne, for instance, to name some of the more common ones—although usually given some initial definition are not always fully defined; perhaps a brief glossary would have helped in this respect.

Nevertheless the great value of this book, apart from being an exceptionally well-informed and good read, often expanding beyond the immediate concern with woodlands to look at wider aspects of Irish history, is to put forward the evidence, warts and all, for further discussion, presenting a challenging view that warrants serious consideration. It would have been interesting to see the overall inferences placed against alternative nondocumentary evidence such as that from the archaeological, botanical, and paleo-ecological records, sources which themselves are of limited spatial extent and temporal resolution, but important nonetheless as further insights into landscape change. Whether Everett has done enough to reinstate the English as a positive element in Irish woodland history will remain to be seen, but he makes a very valid attempt to engage with a very wide range of documentary evidence and allow readers to draw their own conclusions.