Situated on one of Europe's busiest sea-roads, Ireland has always been connected to other cultures.This accessible and engaging history explores these connections across 1,600 years, from the arrival of Christianity in the 5th century to the present day.While the Norman invasion in 1169 brought the English crown into Irish politics, the impulse to preserve the Irish language and early Irish history united many of the Gaelic-Irish and Anglo-Normans from the 14th century.The Irish nationhood that emerged later was based more on Catholicism, as Ireland became a minor theatre of bitter European conflicts of the early modern period.Political (and religious) loyalties which solidified at this point determined Irish politics for the next three centuries, through the Troubles and beyond.Alongside these major political events, Caitriona Clear examines the living and working conditions of ordinary men and women - what they traded and farmed, how they lived and loved, and how they were often affected, but not always overwhelmed, by the politics of their time.