This groundbreaking and controversial new study tells the story of two nations in Ireland; an Irish Catholic nation and a Protestant nation, emerging from a blood-stained century. This survey confronts the violence and enmity inherent in the consolidation of conquest. Consolidating Conquest places events in Ireland in the context of three Stuart kingdoms, religious rivalry within and between those kingdoms, and the shifting balance of power as monarchy and commonwealth, Whitehall and Westminster, fought for ultimate power.

1. Reform to conquest 1534-1603 2. Consolidating conquest 3.Plantation 1608-22 4. English, Old and New 1613-40 5. Rising 1641-42 6. God or King? 1642-49 7. Cromwellian conquest and settlement 1649-59 8. Charles II 1660-85 9. James II 1685-91 10. Parliament, patronage and 'patriots' 1692-1727 11. Land and people Conclusion: Wars and Peace