When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out

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.

David J. Lynch is a senior writer with Bloomberg News in Washington, D.C., focusing on the intersection of politics and economics. Previously, he covered global business issues for USA Today, first writing for the Money section, then becoming the founding bureau chief in both London and Beijing. In 2001, he became the first journalist from USA Today to be selected for the prestigious Nieman fellowship at Harvard University. He has made numerous television appearances on BBC and Sky News in London and C-SPAN and PBS in the United States. His writing has also appeared in The New Republic, Time, and The New York Times. He lives in Washington, D.C.