The Sea Kingdoms: The History of Celtic Britain and Ireland: Amazon.co.uk: Alistair Moffat: Books

Product Description

A journey from Shetland to Cornwall reveals – gloriously – the nature and history of the Celts

‘I have travelled south from Stornoway through all the Hebrides to Ulster, to Galloway, to the Isle of Man, southern and western Ireland. I can report that there is such a place as Celtic Britain, that it shares a common culture, an intimately related history and strikingly similar geography. The story of Celtic Britain can be found in these places.’

The Sea Kingdoms is a narrative history based on a journey from Shetland, down the west coast of Scotland taking in the Isle of Man and the Outer Hebrides, across to Ireland, back to Anglesey and the west Welsh coast, back to Ireland again and finally Cornwall. The heart of the book is the journey from which Moffat strays into the oral histories, legends and known events of the Celts and their past. Its narrative soaked in legend and myth and sensuality, tragedy and gore. In Moffat’s masterful hands,all these apparently disparate stories, fragments of history and myth come together to give the most powerful representation yet of the race who have repeatedly changed history as we know it.

Ranging between pre-history and the present, with much inbetween – The Sea Kingdoms tells the story of a people, stretched down 1,000 miles of coastline that has to be Britain’s richest and most ancient. It also tells the story of the sea itself, which has more than anything shaped the Celtic character.

From the Back Cover

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

5 reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

A new way of thinking 29 Mar 2005

By "shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay"

Format:Paperback

This book explores the similarities of the Celtic peoples and especially their differences with the English. It is a book that would not be written by someone who'd lived within the heart of the Celtic Fringe but as a border Scot, Moffatt's journey of discovery is profound. The book is especially good if you have an interest and knowledge of celtic history already, as it attempts to overturn accepted Anglo-saxon history by highlighting events that have been left out of the establishment view.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

26 of 34 people found the following review helpful

Re-thinking history, feeling my roots 10 Feb 2003

By musical mutterings

This book is remarkable, it logically demonstrates how our history has been written by the people who came to rule us. The book lays an evocotive and tantalising path to find the essence of our undocumented history.

Alisdair Moffat has produced an excellent book, he breaths life into the places he talks about, and depth into the characters who were involved in the "War for Britain".

It totally enraptured me, I now have a stronger sense of who I am, and where I belong in the world.

Read it, and discover the mystery of where we came from, and why we are the way we are.

My one niggle, Cumbria did not get enough mention - it should have.

Enjoyable but not great 21 Feb 2011

By Se�n

I would have to agree with the more negative reviewers here. While I enjoyed parts of this book, there is a lot of nonsense in it too. His observations about a Gaelic poem are completely off the wall, because he suggests that the Celtic languages are in some way inherently onomatopaeic and close to nature in some mystical way. The opposite side of this belief in the poetic mistiness of the Celtic tongues is the argument (which he also makes) that they don't handle modern vocabulary well. He seems to be suggesting that this is again a natural and intrinsic quality, not just the result of the way they have been marginalised by more powerful languages. This kind of argument can be used to damage these languages because people who have a general lack of interest in their survival can sigh and say "Well, they are really beautiful ... great for poetry, but you couldn't run an office through Irish/Gaelic/Welsh." Which of course is absolutely untrue. There is also a claim here that the word moccasin comes from the Scottish Gaelic "mo chosan", which means my feet or legs. This is clearly rubbish. Why wouldn't they call them movrogans? (Mo bhrogan, my shoes) Why would you name them after your feet, rather than your shoes? And in any case, there's already a perfectly good Amerindian etymology for this word.