Ely Janis uses the image of “Greater Ireland” to discuss the rich and dramatic connections between Ireland and the Irish American community during the Gilded Age. As he notes, this work is the first major synthesis on Irish nationalism in the nineteenth century since Thomas Brown's influential Irish-American Nationalism (1966). Although Brown's thesis that Irish Americans' devotion to nationalism sprang from a deep insecurity with their position in the United States and a longing for middle-class respectability has sparked lively debate, Janis builds on that interpretation while seeking to enrich our understanding in several ways: by reflecting the diversity of the Land League movement; by exploring the transnational influences on Ireland and Irish America; and by revealing the role of women in the movement, a topic missed by Brown and others.

Janis's primary argument is that the Irish diaspora and specifically the Greater Ireland created by the close relationship between Ireland and the Irish in America created a malleable and vibrant nationalist movement during the Land League era, which allowed for the voices and influence of workers, radicals, and women to at least briefly occupy and important forum within the cause. Yet, the demise of the Land League and the reassertion of conservative control within the nationalist movement effectively sidelined these alternative visions for many years. The book is organized into three sections: the transatlantic aspects of the Land League, including its founding and Charles Stewart Parnell's time in the United States; the influence of the Land League in the United States; and the demise of the league.

Janis's well-researched book sheds new light on the complex dynamics within the American Land League, specifically the struggles between conservatives, physical force nationalists, and those loyal to the reform agenda of Patrick Ford and the Irish World. By following the money, Janis is able to show just how powerful Ford was until conservatives and physical force nationalists allied to marginalize him. Building on the scholarship of Eric Foner, Janis argues for the importance of working-class support for the league and also for the presence of a viable radical alternative to the conservative leadership of the Land League. He is also able to get beyond the discussion of national jockeying and politicking to reveal the breakdown of the rank and file. For example, he notes the popularity of the Land League and the effectiveness of fundraising in western mining towns and eastern mill towns, like Fall River, Massachusetts, to reveal a demographic and geographic portrait of the rank and file (124).

As a mass movement among Irish Americans, the Land League had an impact on the Irish American community and beyond. Janis identifies three areas of Land League influence: the Catholic Church, ethnic electoral politics, and other Irish societies (79). Janis points out that the league was popular with parish priests, but division within the church, including controversies over the role of women and Father Edward McGlynn's involvement in politics, are not discussed until later in the book. In terms of recruiting and revenue, the Land League benefited from close ties to other Irish American groups. A few Land League leaders, such Patrick Collins, were also able to convert their visibility into political success despite the league's aversion to direct political partisanship, but Janis also demonstrates the negative effect that the popularity and success of the League had on Clan na Gael (which failed to control the funds of the League) and Catholic colonization societies (which the league opposed.)

Irish American women played an important role in Land League work, forging a prominent place in nationalist activism for the first time, as Janis reveals. Because of the organization of the book, the discussion of the Ladies' Land League comes late and is somewhat divided. Still, this is a key feature, one that has been neglected in the past. Again, Janis is able to complement his portrait of the national leaders (Fanny Parnell and Ellen Ford) with his discussion of rank and file activism and ideological variation, presenting a portrait that is as nuanced for the women as for the men. Janis estimates the participation of American women at 17,000, and that is a conservative number (143). While he briefly discusses the Ladies' Land League in Ireland, not much attention is paid to it or its transatlantic influence. For example, the book does not discuss how the Ladies' Land League of Ireland asked for (and received) organizers from the United States who were not arrested along with Irish women. But in the final chapters of the book—on the No Rent Manifesto and the demise of the Land League—both Irish and Irish American women are discussed. It is here that the reader learns of the controversy between Catholic women and their bishop in Cleveland, Ohio; the split between Fanny Parnell and Ellen Ford; and Anna Parnell's experiences in Ireland.

The unraveling of the movement in both the United States and Ireland provides key support for Janis's point that Land League alliances in “Greater Ireland” provided an important, though temporary, platform for alternative voices to be heard in the nationalist movement. The influence of workers, radicals, and women waned for a number of reasons as conservatives consolidated their position in the Irish National League of America. American women were not barred from the organization as women in Ireland were, but their numbers were small, and those men and women interested in the reform aspects of the movement moved on to other organizations. Janis brings this brief but important period in Irish and Irish American history back into focus, expanding our understanding not only of the transatlantic Irish community but also of reform in the Gilded Age.