Few countries have shifted significantly in recent years such as Ireland. Ireland finally emerged in the late 1990s as the fastest growing country in Europe, with the typical Irish enjoying a higher standard of living than the British average.

Only a few years after celebrating their new status among the richest societies in the world, the Irish are now overwhelmed by the crippled and shrinking economy, rising unemployment and devastating public finances. After many centuries of impoverishment, how did the Irish eventually become wealthy, and how did they escape so quickly? Here, veteran journalist David J.

Lynch draws a detailed account based on figures about how the Irish boom appeared and how it collapsed. It opens our eyes to the fall of the nation through the living experience of individual citizens: the people responsible for the current crisis as well as the ordinary men and women who bear them..