In 1900, Ireland was a restless, impoverished, neglected corner of the British Empire. By 2000, it had become the "Celtic Tiger" of Europe. How did this happen? This Landmark book by one of today's most exciting young historians sets out to give a full account of what it was like to grow up and live in twentieth-century Ireland, and it is the first comprehensive social, political, cultural, intellectual, and economic survey of that Irish century.