Daniel O'Connell - known as the Liberator - is one of the towering figures of Irish history.

Drawing on the much fuller collection of correspondence that has recently become available, Oliver MacDonagh has written a biography which does justice to this powerful man who forced Irish issues on to the centre stage of English politics.

Professor MacDonagh traces O'Connell's life in France and Ireland; his secret marriage; his financial irresponsibility and cares; his thirty years' practice at the Irish bar - and the knowledge of local politics and power structures which this brought him; his political agitations and mobilization of Irish opinion - and the achievement of his primary goal, Catholic Emancipation, in 1829.

Meanwhile O'Connell became the first cartographer of the then largely unknown terrain of mass politics. This implied false starts and failed experiments, as well as ultimate success; it also demanded resourcefulness, buoyancy and flexibility of disposition along with an unfailing rapport with the public which he was, so to speak, bringing into existence. The years 1775 to 1829 were critical to the foundation of modern Irish and Catholic culture, and O'Connell was at once the exemplar and the prime mover in this development.

All subsequent constitutional politics in Ireland were, and are, more or less variations on the themes O'Connell composed. The Hereditary Bondsman matches the grandeur of his vision and the excitement of these youthful years.