This short and entertaining history from earliest times to the present by one of Ireland's best-loved writers clearly shows the development of Ireland to the present time.
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This is complicated history made simple, but not dumbed down.
In 1780, Ireland was a pre-modern society. Then, under the twin effects of the industrial revolution and the French revolution, the whole world was turned upside down and Ireland with it. What followed were events like the 1798 Rebellion, the Famine of the 1840's and the industrial revolution, leading to the separation of most of Ireland from the UK.
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