Book excerpt: A compelling narrative of contemporary Ireland from one of its most highly respected historians The Ireland of today is a place poised between the divisiveness of deep-seated conflict and the modernizing pull of material prosperity. Though each state's history is strikingly divergent, the mirroring ideologies that fuel them are remarkably symbiotic. With Ireland Since 1939, one of the most distinguished Irish historians working today casts a fresh and unpredictable eye to Ireland's history from World War II up through the present to show how-by putting aside its North/South conflict-Ireland can look forward to a prosperous economic future.