It is the autumn of 1981 and the British Prime Minister, fresh from the ending of the Maze Prison Hunger Strike, finds her cabinet facing a new and more dangerous threat from a Republican splinter group demanding the unification of Ireland. As she prepares for the State Opening of Parliament by Her Majesty the Queen, to be attended by Prince Charles and his new bride Diana, there ensues a frantic race against time to stop a team of international assassins reeking havoc and revenge at the heart of the British establishment.

Sociological research methods are a key component of teaching and courses at all levels, yet courses often fail to catch light for lack of effective student books or provoke smouldering resentment from students at misplaced enthusiasm for recondite statistics.

Gerry Rose's new book should go a long way to remedy these problems. It is a complete teaching course with a clear rationale and a distinctive approach to the topic, unblemished by epistemological or prescriptive polemic. Its method is to present through the analysis of twelve pieces of published research reprinted in the book the...