It's a sign of how trailblazing Connolly's work was in 1982 that in its updated edition two decades later, that now it reads like the standard word on the subject of popular religious practices and their intersection with matters of rebellion, marriage and sex, folk culture, hierarchical struggles for power, and the relation between the clergy and those they tried to lead.

If I had read this in 1982, then, it would have been eye-opening. Now, as his new introduction points out, he's the establishment! Most scholars seem to have accepted his findings, largely based upon the massive amount of archival sources he has exhumed, and Connolly proves tenacious in defending his perspectives.

The book thankfully does not lapse into jargon or grudge matches against academic rivals. Largely left to stand on its own, the text proper is revised less, leaving readers needing a catch-up on the issues raised in the past twenty years to turn to Connolly's introduction. While I wish he had taken on the issues he raises in his introduction and worked them back into the original text more, the likely symptom of many scholars--he doesn't want to go back and rewrite his dissertation again--doubtless may be the reason for this selective revision.

Readable and detailed, yet never overwhelming the newcomer to 18-19 c.Irish history, this book's the place to start for pre-Famine analyses of the Church.