Francis Higgins was one of a cluster of informers utilized by Dublin Castle authorities to gather information on the United Irishmen and others thought to be disloyal to authorities in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. After an introduction that assesses the role of slightly more than a dozen of the most significant informers, Bartlett (modern Irish history, U. College Dublin, Ireland) presents 158 of the letters Higgins wrote to the Castle in the years 1795-1801. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).