ACHILL ISLAND—“THE END OF THE EARTH.”

ACHILL ISLAND—“THE END OF THE EARTH.” Michael Lewis continues his wonderful analysis of the financial crisis with an essay in Vanity Fair (March 2011) on Ireland’s economic crisis. In Ireland, the crisis took the form of bad loans by Irish banks to real estate developments which were wildly overpriced and overbuilt. At one point in the article, he writes about a developer whose attempt to develop a resort on Achill Island failed. Kids, Achill Island is where my Irish ancestors came from. I have formed the impression that it is poor and windswept, and Michael Lewis confirms this impression. He quotes the man who is showing him around Ireland: “This time of year Achill’s going to be fairly bleak….Mind you, in the summer it can be fairly bleak as well.” Lewis gives his impression of the island: “On either side of the snaking single-lane road peat bogs stretch as far as the eye can see. The feel is less ‘tourist destination’ than ‘end of the earth.’”