Red Hugh O’Donnell and the Nine Years War. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005. First Edition. Pp 190. Black cloth boards in pictorial dust jacket. A fine bright copy.

The Nine Years’ War marked the most significant challenge Gaelic Ireland posed to the English state under Elizabeth I. The young chieftain, Red Hugh O’Donnell (1572-1602), played a pivotal role in the Gaelic confederacy that waged this conflict. Without his leadership, the prospect of mounting such a successful and extensive resistance against the expansion of English authority in Ireland would not have been possible.

It also examines how the Gaelic lordships of Ulster demonstrated remarkable military and political ingenuity, allowing their leaders to forge a powerful confederacy that nearly succeeded in overthrowing English rule in Ireland.