How did the Protestants gain a monopoly over the running of Ireland? To answer this question, Toby Barnard begins with an examination of the Catholics' attempt to regain control over their own affairs, first in the 1640s and then between 1689 and 1691. Barnard then outlines how military defeats doomed the Catholics to subjection, allowing Protestants to tighten their grip over the government, and goes on to study in detail the mechanisms both national and local through which this control was exercised. Focusing on the provinces as well as Dublin, and on the subjects as well as the rulers, Barnard brings an abundance of unfamiliar evidence to bear on Irish lives.