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The conduct of the central government was often reactive rather than deliberate. While its lack of a coherent policy was not remarkable, given the period under consideration, the government's failure to develop such a policy was disastrous in dealing with the fundamental issue of Catholic emancipation. The final surrender of Peel and Wellington was bitter and the 1829 Catholic relief act contained insults to Irish Catholics. The nature of the act, coupled with continued Protestant ascendancy and landlordism, and Catholic mass poverty and insecurity, meant that Catholic emancipation was not a prelude to Ireland's assimilation into the United Kingdom but instead, the beginning of the process of modern Irish nationalism.

This book chronicles the rags-to-riches tale of the Grenvilles, who rose from the gentry to become dukes, making a fortune and building Stowe, one of England's great country houses, in the process - only to come close to bankruptcy by 1850 and eventually lose their title.