These two monographs equally enlighten subjects of Irish ecclesiastical history in a period that has been overlooked. Though both are biographies of men of the cloth in the early and mid-nineteenth century, the authors have studied their subjects as politicians, educators and reformists. Thomas Morrissey's biography of the Catholic archbishop Daniel Murray should be warmly welcomed in Irish Catholic history, not least because such a study has been long overdue. The book's strengths are those which Morrisey has demonstrated in all of his previous works: it is meticulously researched and considers Murray's role and influence in both church politics and in the broader Irish and English political contexts. Morrissey's research in Irish and Roman, private and public archives demonstrates this by examining the archbishop's crucial role in developing the educational system in Ireland. Murray's part in helping shape educational reform in Ireland during the mid-nineteenth century through political and governmental reform and the formation of both male and female religious orders dedicated to education is central to the book's themes. Morrissey also shows that many of Murray's endeavours were more interdenominational in approach, much to the distaste of many of the other Catholic bishops, such as the nationalist Archbishop John MacHale. The sections of the book which deal with Murray's attempts to secure educational reform, in fact, show a willingness to engage in dialogue with Protestant individuals and institutions which is often considered to have been rare during this period. In his forward to this volume, Vincent Allan McClelland has written that ‘In his development and spirit, he [Murray] was a bishop essentially for his people, rather than a politician’ (p. 12). There is something to this – Morrissey has indeed drawn out Murray's interest in social welfare with a particular emphasis on education – but he has also demonstrated that the archbishop had some aptitude for political negotiation. Despite its virtues, the book could do with a few changes. The inclusion of a full bibliography, for example, would have been welcome. Although each chapter contains endnotes, a list of archives and secondary sources consulted would have been very useful, as would have been a conclusion to tie together the varied social, educational and ecclesiastical advances to which Murray contributed. Lastly, the book is subdivided into subsections which many readers may find disjointed, even though they follow each other closely.

Much like Morrissey in his account of Murray's attempts to reform Irish education through interdenominational compromise, Ciara Boylan has produced an extensively researched biography of the similarly-inclined Church of Ireland archbishop of Dublin, Richard Whately (1787–1863). Her account of Whately's life and work covers a fair amount of ground by providing analytical perspective on Whately's intellectual development. By examining Whately's early life (as far as is possible), and his career leading up to his appointment to Dublin, Boylan has uncovered a practical philosopher in the future bishop. The first section, on Whately's intellectual development, underpins the whole book: in examining his interests and opinions on subjects such as political economy, Boylan has convincingly argued that the bishop's pragmatic, logical approach to philosophy followed through into his life, and led to Whately's promotion of further separation between Church and State, his support of Catholic Emancipation in Ireland, and his attempts to reform Irish education. Boylan is not afraid to look at Whately as a politician or as a man who favoured controlling the masses. This approach is perhaps best drawn out by her description of Whately's commitment to ‘education as an inoculation against revolution and unrest’ (p. 189). Such a treatment of Whately – or of any religious historical figure – can sometimes be difficult for historians, but Boylan's treatment of both Whately and the other religious and political figures with whom he dealt is consistently fair throughout the book. As an historian of Irish Catholicism, reading Boylan's book is refreshing, as it provides a much-needed perspective on a time when at least some Irish Protestants, at some level, were communicating and cooperating over social issues with Irish Catholics. This is not always adequately appreciated in the existing historiography. Whately's willingness to work with the Catholic Church is most apparent in the author's accounts of Whately's work with educational reform, and in his attempts to ameliorate the poverty of the Irish labouring class. The reader comes away from this biography with exactly Boylan's description of Whately: a man whose commitment to his principles did not change even with circumstances; a Protestant archbishop who sought the good of Catholics not for their own sake but for the sake of the greater good of all citizens; and a philosopher who sought to implement his ideal society through the pursuit of a political economy in harmony with religion. Where reading Morrissey's account of Daniel Murray's life is an exercise in Irish Catholic history, Boylan's biography of Whately is more often one of a politician and philosopher than of a religious figure alone. Both Morrissey and Boylan have produced much needed biographies of two influential Irish religious figures, contributing greatly to the history of education, religion and in Boylan's case intellectual history, in Ireland.