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How the Irish Saved Civilisation: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (Hinges of History)
 
 

How the Irish Saved Civilisation: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (Hinges of History) (Paperback)

by Thomas Cahill (Author) "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..." (more)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group; Anchor Books ed edition (6 Oct 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0385418493
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385418492
  • Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 263,344 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #74 in  Books > History > Cultural History > Multicultural History

Product Description

Synopsis

Reveals the pivotal role played by the monks and scribes of Ireland in the development of Western culture and history.

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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
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews

76 Reviews
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Irish Stew - a tabloid history, 2 Sep 2006
Anyone reading this book will receive, at page 51, the following advice: "Most of Plato is impenetrable at first reading. If it begins to give you a headache, skip to the end of the passage - and just take my word for it."

By then, if you have any critical sense at all, you will have realised that this is not the most intelligent book ever written.

This is its argument: the Romans were ruthless, rapacious and overbearing. But at the same time, they were superficial, effete and degenerate. Compared with the virile, energetic, free-living barbarians massed around their frontiers, the Romans and their Empire were a waste of space. Nevertheless, `the Irish' deserve undying praise from the rest of the world because they copied out much of the literature left behind by the `unattractive' Roman civilisation, and `saved' it for posterity.

Why classical literature was worth saving is not immediately clear from Cahill's account. In a brief summary, he reviews only five celebrated classical writers: Virgil, Cicero, Plato, er . . . Ausonius, and, er . . . St. Augustine.

Virgil's Aeneid, he tells us, was valuable as the first great national epic - superior to the `folk epics' of Homer, though (as he later demonstrates) inferior to the `Irish epic', the Tain. Cicero is dismissed as shallow and boring. Plato, as we have seen, was `impenetrable' (anyway, his works were saved, not by the Irish, but by the Byzantines - almost the only time the great Eastern Roman Empire which lasted until the fifteenth century is mentioned at all - except as "a small defensible state on the Bosporus"). Ausonius, the 4th century poet and politician, was decadent and foolish (though clearly some anonymous and diligent Irish monk thought his work worth preserving). Augustine is the only one who merits Cahill's sustained attention and praise - implying (some might think controversially) that Augustine must have been the greatest, or at least the most interesting, of all classical authors.

Cahill's impoverished catalogue of classical literature is understandable when you realise that actually he hates the Romans. They are, he tells us, those who have plenty, but want more. For Cahill, being `Roman' is a state of mind, as much as a cultural or political identity, and one which he deplores.

By contrast, `the Irish' are a chosen people with a world-saving mission (join the queue!). They have all the virtues and hardly any vices: but even their vices are virtuous. In spirituality, morality, poetry, architecture, and every other field of human endeavour Cahill can think of (including metalwork), they were the first, the best, the exemplary.

In labouring that point, Cahill never lets common sense get in the way. He presents myth and history as equally credible: Cuchullainn killed 130 kings in one day; St. Brendan dined on the back of a whale; St. Columbanus arrived in Lombardy in 612 AD - take your pick. Rome was the `vastest and most powerful empire in human history' - greater than China and Persia, then. There were no `real' missionaries between St. Paul and St. Patrick - so, Cahill asks us to believe, for the first four centuries AD, Christianity just blew about the world on the breeze, from Ethiopia to Ireland. Palladius, who went to Ireland before Patrick can be dismissed - because he was not Patrick. Patrick was a Briton who `became' an Irishman.

Without doubt, the Irish contribution to European history is unduly overlooked. There is a genuine need for a sensible and readable history of how Christianity came to Ireland in classical times; how and why classical learning was preserved there; and how monks from Ireland spread Celtic Christianity though post-classical Europe. Unfortunately, Cahill does not provide that. He clearly does not understand the essence of his subject: i.e. why classical civilisation was important to the world, and why it was worth `saving'. His account is sprinkled with howlers and blunders; and his quotations are not footnoted, so it is impossible to verify the bases for his controversial claims - though many appear suspect.

`How the Irish Saved Civilisation' is the historical equivalent of a tabloid newspaper: some facts, some myths - and a lot of spin and blarney - all muddled together, and wrapped up in a neat package in the hope that nobody will read it very carefully.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars About as historically accurate as a conspiracy theory, 21 Sep 1997
By A Customer
I do not disagree with the author's central premise, that in the dark ages, much of Western Europe's literary and historical heritage would have been lost without the assistance of Irish monks. HOWEVER, the author's historical research is painful. He refers to theories about Ireland's pre-history and early history that have been questioned, if not completely discredited. He never cites a dissenting view, most probably because of his inadequate research. Few (if any) scholars consider the Book of Invasions a historical document. (To those who have never heard of it, it's like believing in Atlantis) Many scholars argue with the idea that Patrick had ever been to the continent, let alone to Rome. The authors biases against pagan literature and history are offensive. He doesn't miss a chance to cite pagan sources that refer to sexual or bodily functions and his "analysis" of these sources constantly refer to them as lustful and unintelligent. The discerning should be able to recognize bad scholarship, even if they are not familiar with the subject matter. If you read this book and believe its contents, you will know less about Ireland than when you started.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Historically Inaccurate and Very Misleading, 6 May 1999
By A Customer
It's premise and it's title are false. It grossly overstates the disorder on the Continent at the time and grossly overstates the accomplishments of the Irish monks. One of the most rubbishy history books I've ever come across.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Playful, thought provoking tonic
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4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic portrait of the Celtic Church -- but who did they save civilization from?
Cahill's tribute to early Celtic Christianity is powerful and heart-felt. I've never seen a finer account of St. Patrick's life and times. Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars cheerful and meandering
Totally misleading title - should be done under the Trade Descriptions Act really. Only gets to answer the claim of the title in the second to last chapter! Read more
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1.0 out of 5 stars No, It Was The Benedictines!
The Irish got their books from the ITALIAN BENEDICTINES, which negates both the premise and the title! Read more
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1.0 out of 5 stars Erin Go Lie!
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Did you know that if it wasn't for Irish Saints like Patrick and Columba, western literature and civilisation could have been flushed away forever? Read more
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3.0 out of 5 stars A Disorganized Rendering of an Inspiring Tale.
'How The Irish Saved Civilization' is the tale of how Irish Monks preserved the culture of the Roman Empire during the roughly century and a half after the Fall of The Roman... Read more
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3.0 out of 5 stars A Disorganized Rendering of an Inspiring Tale
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