212 Book Reviews IRISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY PATRICK CLANCY, SHEELAGH DRUDY, KATHLEEN LYNCH, and LIAM O'DOWD, eds, Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 1995; pp.716. The end of the twentieth century seems an appropriate time to reflect on Irish society. Fin de siecle life has become extremely complex, even complicated ...Despite its size Ireland has made, and continues to make, a very distinctive contribution to European, and even to global culture...Irish people must struggle to make sense of their everyday lives and to understand these forces and processes as they affect their families, their networks, their access to resources, their culture and their general quality of life (Clancy, Drudy, Lynch and O'Dowd 1995, p.1). When I accepted the invitation to review the text, I did not realise the daunting nature of the task. This tome contains 708 pages, a wealth of information on Irish society within the frames of the sociological perspectives currently used in Ireland. Twenty-five authors have constructed 22 chapters on topics from 'Demographic Structure and Change' to 'Caring Labour and Love Labour', from 'Community Action and the State' to the 'Social Production of the Criminal Population', from 'Fortress Northern Ireland' to 'The Women's Movement in the Republic of Ireland'. It is clear from these chapters that Irish society is indeed 'complex, even complicated'. The book is divided into three parts: Population, Work and Social Change; Class, Politics and The State; Education, Culture and Social Movements. In terms of educational institutions, University College Dublin and Queen's University in Belfast provide over a third of the authors, with the rest being spread fairly evenly around the other research institutions in the island of Ireland. I would guess that this book contains work by over a third of the professional sociologists currently working for public institutions in Ireland and as such it could be read as providing one telling reflection of the state not only of Irish society but also of Irish sociology. 'The objectives of this book are fourfold,' say the editors (p.2) in their very competent introductory chapter. First, it seeks to present up-to-date information on key areas and issues in Irish society...to illustrate the perspectives that sociologists bring to the analysis of society...to stimulate systematic and critical reflection on the nature of our society [and to] stimulate the reader to identify alternative, and perhaps better routes and futures for Irish society.