In an exploration of the essential structure of what is called Irish history, A.T.Q. Stewart looks at some shadowy areas and asks provocative questions about popular misconceptions. Even where such misconceptions have been refuted by academic research, Stewart argues, the information has not percolated into the general domain because modern historians, writing mainly for one another, have lost the wider audience. Criticizing his own profession for purporting to be scientific while largely ignoring the implications of, for example, scientific archaeology, Stewart also opens up the closed shop of Irish history for the general reader. The result is a landmark book - the terrain of Irish history will never be the same again.