Mention Bolivia or Belgium to the average American adult, and the conversation will soon flag. Bring up Ireland, and the talk will always find a focus. Yeats? Killarney? Guinness? Associa- tions generously tumble forth. Some 40 million Americans have Irish blood in their veins; five times that many, it seems, believe they can imitate an Irish brogue. Often overlooked-veiled, per-haps, an assumed familiarity-is how unfamiliar to most Americans the Republic of Ireland really is. The Republic is,...