The Ansbacher Report was published this week in Dublin, detailing an intricate web of tax evasion by Ireland’s business and political elite from the 1970s to the 1990s. (I looked in vain for any mention of relatives of mine in it.) It’s the latest nail in the coffin of a whole generation of Irish leaders—- religious, business and political—- born after the foundation of the state but before the end of World War Two. They were in the ascendancy in the 1960s and running the country a decade later. They made Ireland what it was, such as it was, when I was growing up.

The definitive history of Ireland from, say, 1970 to 2000, has yet to be written. But there’s already some excellent journalism that covers much of what happened in this period, usually from the point when it began to unravel. If you want to understand Irish political life—- by which I mean, Irish political scandal—- then here are some books you should read.

The Boss by Joe Joyce and Peter Murtagh. The classic account of Charles Haughey’s nine month GUBU government in 1982. A ground-breaking piece of journalism that history has entirely vindicated. The place to start learning how Irish politics really works.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch by Fintan O’Toole. A brilliant account of how the Irish state (courtesy of Charles Haughey) put up public money to insure private beef exports to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Amongst many other beef-related scams. The biggest political scandal—- and biggest investigative tribunal—- in Irish history.

With a Little Help from my Friends by Paul Cullen. The story of the Flood tribunal, detailing corruption built around planning permission and rezoning in Dublin in the 1990s.

This Great Little Nation: The A-Z of Irish Scandals & Controversies by Gene Kerrigan and Pat Brennan. The jacket copy says it best: “From Ansbacher to Zoe, from Locke to Lowry, from a sex/murder scandal of the 1920s to the banking scandals of the 1990s. AIB, NIB, Littlejohn, Lenihan, Mary Robinson and Russell Murphy. Magdalen laundries and clerical sex abuse, ministerial pensions and mature recollections. From the Great Tampon Scandal of 1944 to the Arms Crisis of 1970. From Taca to Tuffy to Traynor: tax dodging, insurance churning, money laundering, pick-me-ups, heavy gangs and thundering disgraces. McCracken, Moriarty, Flood, Telecom, planning, Haughey, Burke, Bertie and Bruton.” Bite-size samplings of politics at its worst.

Once you get through these, and if you’re not Irish, you’ll never again ask an Irish emigrant why they left their beautiful, romantic homeland.