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the lack of enthusiasm for independence in early 1922 and voter turnout in Galway was frequently at or near the lowest in the Free State. Newall attributes this to a combination of the size of the constituency, the lack of infrastructure that would have made it easier for voters to get to the polls, and a regionalism within Galway that prevented a county-wide view of elections. Candidates who were generally associated with one particular region of Galway, often failed to campaign outside of that particular region, and thus remained unfamiliar to many voters. The book raises several themes critical in understanding the 1920s. The localism chronicled in The west must wait is a crucial component in understanding electoral behaviour, and either shows the responsiveness of Irish democracy, or, as Tom Garvin has written, the creation of a 'parliament of backbenchers'. Cumann na nGaedheal's ultimate electoral failure is given important local context as well, as the party's success in state-building created rather passive or grudging support for the Free State (p. 28), but an unwillingness to translate that passive support into permanent enthusiasm for Cumann na nGaedheal. The west must wait is an indispensable addition to the literature on the 1920s, and its analysis of the intersection between localism, economic issues, and electoral politics provides an important framework in further advancing studies of the period. All scholars interested in twentieth-century Ireland should read it.