This work, a summation of a lifetime of research and personal involvement with all things Irish and Irish-American, has several unusual strengths. For one, it neatly meshes both contemporary Irish and Irish-American concerns and issues over Ireland's future and her immediate past. It deals with various aspects political, economic, social and religious---of the problems and the opportunities of the last decade or so and discusses the new Ireland that is emerging from both the triumphalism of the Celtic Tiger era and the stark difficulties of retrenchment and austerity that beset the present day.

Another strength of the research is that it brings the analysis of Ireland up to date covering such subjects as the post Celtic Tiger malaise mentioned above as well as the demise of the perennially largest Irish political party Fianna Fail and the increased state-church confrontations that are profoundly altering the position, power and prestige of the Catholic Church. Ulster and its partnership with the Republic as well as with the United Kingdom is also examined with an emphasis on both the traditional power players and new diverse elements that have emerged in the last several years.

This book complements earlier works such as Terence Brown's Ireland: A Cultural and Social History(1985),Charles Townshend's Ireland: The Twentieth Century (1998) and Roy Foster's Luck and the Irish: A Brief History of Change (2008) by bringing the discussion up to date and by introducing the Irish-American views and activities that have been so important in effecting Ireland's contemporary affairs.