Book excerpt: This authoritative and comprehensive history of Ireland covers the entire history of the island from the Ice Age to the peace process in 100 short episodes. In this thoughtful analysis of Irish society, Bardon integrates the significant cultural and literary history of Ireland with its political and social past. Based on the hugely popular BBC radio series A Short History of Ireland, each episode stands alone, providing a snippet of Irish history in five minutes' reading. In turn, to read each episode in sequence from beginning to end provides a magisterial history of Europe's most western land.