This course will provide an introduction to the history of Ireland from its reputation as the "island of Saints and Scholars" during the European Dark Ages to the rise and fall of the "Celtic Tiger" at the end of the twentieth century. We will craft an understanding of the complicated relationship between Ireland, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the British Empire, issues that are central to modern Irish history. We will cultivate a sense of the political, cultural, economic, and social changes and stagnations that made the partitioned island what it is today, as well as a familiaritywith the strong historiographical traditions that have challenged and, sometimes, rewritten historical narratives.