Sir - It is inevitable that historians will differ in their views of the controversial re-evaluation of Cromwell in Tom Reilly's Cromwell: An Honourable Enemy. Before publication the manuscript was read by a number of historians, some of whom were more enthusiastically disposed to its thesis than others. But the general response was that this is a long overdue and challenging study of Cromwell's Irish campaign which is credible in terms of its analysis and argument.
Had your reviewer (Books, May 8th) actually reviewed the book and found fault with its thesis, one could have no complaint. But for most of the review he paraded his own ideas about Cromwell; he scarcely acknowledged the book or its thesis but merely dismissed them. There is an interesting review to be written of Cromwell: An Honourable Enemy; this was not it. - Yours, etc.,
Steve MacDonogh, Brandon/Mount Eagle Publications, Dingle, Co. Kerry.