There may be more scholarly accounts of "Ninety-Eight" than Pakenham's, but it is ultra-readable and fair-minded, and has gone into numerous editions since its first appearance 30 years ago. The Rebellion's atrocities (on both sides) are still argued over, while at the moment its genuinely heroic side is rather downplayed in deference to the political climate. It opened the way for the Act of Union which, as Thomas Pakenham says, had the solid support of the Catholic Hierarchy (terrified of French atheism and republicanism), while the Orange party "were effectively opposed, though officially neutral". Repression was often savage, with wholesale deportations of young Irishmen to Botany Bay and a wave of emigration which continued for years afterwards.