When this book was originally published in 1960 no full-length study of the Parnell 'split' had been made, despite it being such a landmark in Irish history. The book treats the eleven months between the verdict on the O'Shea divorce case the death of Parnell as a dramatic unity. This was the first modern work to provide a connected account of such neglected episodes as the 'Boulogne negotiations' and Parnell's final campaign in Ireland. The crisis was a crisis for English liberalism as well as Irish nationalism and the author discusses the effects of the catastrophe upon Gladstone and his colleagues. The author obtained access to several valuable collections of private papers in England and Ireland which throw a lot of light upon the actions and opinions of the main participants in this famous tragedy.