Over the past decade the historically strife-ridden and impoverished nation of Ireland has emerged as one of the economic and social miracles of Europe. A booming software-based economy dubbed -the Celtic Tiger- has spurred an escalating standard of living, an influx of diaspora returnees and other immigrants, enormous growth in housing and infrastructure, and an uncommon flourishing in the arts. As a result, the Irish find themselves confronted with a new set of questions about who they are, where they are going, and how they will get there.The present volume is the outgrowth (though not...