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In this delightful and illuminating look into a crucial but little-known "hinge" of history, Thomas Cahill takes us to the "island of saints and scholars," the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells. Here, far from the barbarian despoliation of the continent, monks and scribes laboriously, lovingly, even playfully preserved the West's written treasury. When stability returned in Europe, these Irish scholars were instrumental in spreading learning, becoming not only the conservators of civilization, but also the shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on Western culture.
From Publishers Weekly
An account of the pivotal role played by Irish monks in transcribing and preserving Classical civilization during the Dark Ages.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
On the last, cold day of December in the dying year we count as 406, the river Rhine froze solid, providing the natural bridge that hundreds of thousands of hungry men, women, and children had been waiting for. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
On the last, cold day of December in the dying year we count as 406, the river Rhine froze solid, providing the natural bridge that hundreds of thousands of hungry men, women, and children had been waiting for. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Patriotic Myth,
By Michael Taylor "Scipio" (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How the Irish Saved Civilization (Paperback)
The Irish have been claiming for a long time that they "saved civilization." But this is pure myth, and Cahill's entertaining and seemingly erudite book does little but perpetrate this myth. Let the reader beware: Roman and Greek texts were not preserved primarily by Irish monestaries--indeed Irish monestaries were always hard up for texts, and those that did circulate were primarily post-classical Christian works. The story of Irish Christianity is fascinating and of the highest historical importance, but it is not to be found in Cahill's somewhat silly book. I recommend instead The Rise of Western Christendom by Peter Brown, which contains a very illuminating discussion of the Celtic Christianity that arose around the great monestaries of Ireland and Northumbria.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pure malarkey,
By
This review is from: How the Irish Saved Civilization (Paperback)
Don't get me wrong- this is a very entertaining book. If you've ever hung out in a bar and met one of those droll sons of the Esmerald Isle spinning a hilarious tale or two after a wee bit of the ol' poteen just imagine a whole book of such tales purporting to show how the Irish saved Europe's bacon. No pesky historical FACTS get in the way of a single-minded Irish Catholic view of the past. Reading this reminded me of the Cold war Soviets who claimed the Russians invented everything or the Greek dad in the recent popular movie who thought every word had Greek roots and the Greeeks were best at everything. And the Greeks is where this book's theory comes CRASHING down because of...BYZANTIUM!...in this work described as "a small defensible state"!!! The fact is the the Byzantine Empire continued the Roman Empire for centuries after the "fall" of the western Roman empire and all of the supposedly lost civilazation of Rome was there all along in a huge area of eastern and southern Europe. This is mentioned on ONE! page in the book. In fact the so-called Dark Ages were really never as dark or uncivilised as they popularly thought to be. The West is Better prejudices of our time come through clearly- its as if Eastern and Central Europe didn't exist. I think the Germans would be surprised to find out that it isn't Romanesque architecture and art from German towns that count but Irish inspired manuscripts. A topsy-turvy view of the world and history is displayed here- the classic Romans and Greeks are "pessimistic and dark" whereas the newly christianised Irish are humanistic and freedom-loving! We have here a great example of a new kind of popular history where entertainment and prejudice mix to prove whatever you want. If you're Irish and Catholic you'll love this book- everybody else bring your grain of salt!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
A history book this is not,
By "butler667" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How the Irish Saved Civilization (Paperback)
Unfortunately for the average reader this book reads like a history book but equally unfortunately it is not. It is everything that people say it is in the way of being an entertaining read, an interesting read etc. etc. but Cahill knows very little about his source material. As someone else pointed out his descriptions of pre-Christian Ireland are not accurate. His opinions are based on pro-Christian texts written in later times to denigrate the pagan Irish. The information he gives on St. Patrick is based on later myth and not historical texts of which there are very little dating from fifth century Ireland. As a history teacher I do not recommend this book to students expect as a form of fiction. It should not be read too closely and serious readers who really want to learn about this time in Ireland should go elsewhere for more accurate knowledge.
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