Starting from about 6,000 B.C., the authors cover the neolithic, bronze, and iron ages, describing Irish tombs, artifacts, and buildings; the arrival of Christianity in Ireland; the golden age (500-800 A.D.) when Irish scholars were the most renowned in Europe;the great Viking period; the takeover of Ireland by Henry II in 1171; the long and painful association with England; the struggle between Protestant and Catholic, colonial settler and native Irishman; and the fight for independence, achieved by the south in 1921; up to 1972, when the Northern Ireland parliament was suspended.