This survey of the history of modern Ireland begins in 1600, with the end of the Elizabethan wars and the establishment of the Ulster plantation, and ends in 1972, the year in which the Republic joined the EEC and the Stormont parliament in Northern Ireland was suspended. Social, cultural and economic factors are given as much prominence as politics, and there are thematic chapters on such topics as emigration, colonization and ascendency culture. The author incorporates the controversies and conclusions which have emerged over the last 25 years and also presents his own personal view of the emergence of modern Ireland during the last three centuries. R.F.Foster is author of "Charles Stewart Parnell: The Man and His Family" and "Lord Randolph Churchill: A Political Life".