Ireland appears to be in the throes of a remarkable process of social change. The purpose of this book is to systematically scrutinize the interpretations and prescriptions that inform the deceptively simple metaphor of the "Celtic Tiger." The standpoint of the book is that a more critical approach to the course of development being followed by the Republic is urgently required. The essays collected here set out to expose the fallacies that drive the fashionable rhetoric of Tigerhood. Four of these fallacies--that Ireland has cast off the chains of economic dependency, that everyone is benefiting from the economic recovery, that personal freedom and liberty are at an unprecedented level for all citizens, and that Ireland is also experiencing a period of strong cultural renaissance--are vigorously challenged.

How does Captain Joe Anderson get home from the Bahamas after his boat has been stolen, leaving him broke and unemployed in the depths of the present recession? He signs on to sail to the States aboard a sixty-foot sailboat. But once at sea, Joe learns that the boat owner--wealthy, unscrupulous, philandering Alex Smith--is attempting to smuggle $2,000,000 cash back into the U.S. for use in an insider trading deal. Thinking only of himself in his desperation to return home, Joe relinquishes his moral judgment and merely concentrates on making a safe passage, expecting that, once ashore, somehow he will get out of abetting Alex's crime. But the two men also must deal with Smith's zany and volatile wife, Frances, who shoots first and never asks the questions; and a young widow, Mary, who expected a short little cruise but becomes captive aboard due to unexpected circumstances. Departing from Man-O-War Cay in the Abaco, the four sailors encounter murderous weather and modern pirates who are after the money. What originally began as a pleasant voyage soon turns into a desperate race to outrun a hurricane and evade the thugs. Bonding with Mary in their struggle to survive, Joe realizes that to keep her lawful he must thwart Alex's plot. The novel offers a stirring adventure filled with moments of both humor and dire seriousness as the foursome alternately clash with one another and then pull together to survive.