When the luck of the Irish ran out : the world's most resilient country and its struggle to rise again / David Lynch.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: "The boom times are getting more boomer" -- Frugal comfort -- The most important pub in Ireland -- Liftoff -- A different country -- Famine to feast -- Having it all -- People lost the run of themselves -- Money is just evidence -- Epilogue: The Ireland that we dreamed of.

"Few countries have been as dramatically transformed in recent years as Ireland. Once a culturally repressed land shadowed by terrorism and on the brink of economic collapse, Ireland finally emerged in the late 1990s as the fastest-growing country in Europe, with the typical citizen enjoying a higher standard of living than the average Brit. Just a few years after celebrating their newly-won status among the world's richest societies, the Irish are now saddled with a wounded, shrinking economy, soaring unemployment, and ruined public finances. After so many centuries of impoverishment, how did the Irish finally get rich, and how did they then fritter away so much so quickly? Veteran journalist David J. Lynch offers an insightful, character-driven narrative of how the Irish boom came to be and how it went bust. He opens our eyes to a nation's downfall through the lived experience of individual citizens: the people responsible for the current crisis as well as the ordinary men and women enduring it"--Provided by publisher.