Randal MacDonnell, first marquis of Antrim (1609-83), was an important Irish statesman of Scottish extraction, a Caroline loyalist, Catholic confederate, Cromwellian collaborator and Restoration pragmatist. His career highlights three important truths about early modern Britain. It illustrates the elastic nature of the concept of "patriotism" in the turbulent years of the mid-17th century; it demonstrates that Ireland was and must be viewed as part of the triple monarchy of the Stuart kings; and finally, it shows that Ireland - at least in the 1640s - was seen, for the first and last time before 1922, as part of the European state system. Professor Ohlmeyer"s biography of MacDonnell, first published in 1993 (Cambridge UP) and winner of the ACIS book prize for History and Social Sciences, is the only book which examines these crucial issues of the period 1635-65 from a primarily Irish stance."The book deserves to be recognized as a triumphant achievement for its integration of the political and military history of the three Stuart kingdoms in the mid-seventeenth century into a coherent and satisfying whole"Ian Gentles, International History Review."Antrim emerges in this study not so much transformed as explained, while our understanding of the complex interaction of the Stuart kingdoms - in both their Atlantic and European contexts - is materially changed and dramatically advanced"Karl S. Bottigheimer, American Historical Review."Jane Ohlmeyer"s meticulously researched study of the colourful career of Randal MacDonnell, marquis of Antrim, not only illuminates significant areas of the mid-century quagmire, but also makes a useful contribution to the escalating debate about British history" Keith M. Brown, Irish Historical Studies.