As a son of working class Dublin, Fintin O'Toole has seen profound changes to Ireland during his lifetime.

Growing up in the 1960s, nearly every Irish home had the same three pictures on the wall.

You would have found the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

and you would have had John F. Kennedy on one side of it,

and the Pope on the other side.

Vinton explains how Ireland changed from a reactionary backwater into the globalized and well-educated... and Let's be honest about yourself. In Italy, John Kaei explores the infrastructure that paved the way for the Roman Empire.

You can still walk the Appian way to literally get in touch with history.

And then all of a sudden it turns to the stones

that were laid down by the ancient Romans in 312 BC.

Following the steps of Caesar and a personal history of modern Ireland, it's just ahead on Travel with Rick Steeves.

In documenting the rapid pace of changes in his lifetime, Finton O'Toole has written what

critics are calling a definitive account of Modern Ireland.

He joins us in a minute on today's travel with Rick Steeeves to explain how Ireland has been reconciling

with its past and how it can now focus on its role as a progressive nation with a prosperous

future.

And later in the hour, we'll look at the ingenuity of the ancient

Romans and the roads they built to connect the empire's western and eastern

capitals, places you can still walk today. How much has the world you grew up in changed since you were born?

Well, Fintin O'Toole was born in a working class suburb of South Dublin

and puts the profound changes of the past couple of generations in Ireland

into focus with his book We Don't Know Ourselves, a personal history of modern Ireland.

Finton has long been a popular columnist for the Irish Times,

...