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

There are countless history books that relate dates, times and places, but little more. Rare is the author that can look at a period of history from a broad perspective, interpret it intelligently and logically, and draw conclusions that reverberate today. It is not what happened in the past that is important; it is how those events changed the course of history and affect the modern world that brings history alive, far beyond dry dates and times. Cahill does this brilliantly.

His premise is simple; that Ireland's isolated location and highly developed monastic community is singularly responsible for the preservation of priceless intellectual treasures and no less than the sum total of early human knowledge--and civilization--at a time when barbarians ravaged mainland Europe and the Dark Ages threatened to send humanity back to pre-history.

It is a premise backed up with solid research and facts that are difficult to argue with. His is not a far-out concept or wild theory; upon reading the book, which is a pleasure, it is impossible not to conclude that indeed, the Irish did save civilization.

Highly recommended, and not just for fans of history or of Ireland. As Cahill demonstrates, were it not for the anonymous monks toiling away in their dimly lit rooms, the world today would be a much different--and darker--place.

First off, after reading about 3/4 of the reviews here, it seems that most of the 1 star reviews were written by the same person or same few people. If that's the case than it is a very disingenuous way to slam a decent book and decent author.

This book does not pretend to be what it is not. It is a colloquial discourse on the Irish by an Irishman. It provides a brief and readable overview of a time in Irish history that few have bothered to cover for those that are not scholars. Any book of only 256 pages is not going to be a historical treatise. There is no reason to review it as though it were. Still, there is nothing in the book that is factually wrong. That the book would be written from an Irish point of view should be self-evident from the title. It covers the contributions of the Irish to the world at that point in time. A book entitled "How the Irish..." would not be expected to cover contributions by other groups of people. There is nothing bigoted about that. Those who claim the book is bigoted are probably cut from the same cloth as people who have been persecuting the Irish for centuries and I suspect their motives.

Do yourself a favor. Read this delightful book and ignore the naysayers.

The book I ordered was recieved in excellent condition and looks brand new. I am very happy with my purchase!

A poetic and revisionist tour of post-Roman European history

Tom Cahill is his poetic best (and historic worst) as he leads us through the Ireland and Europe of the early part of the first millennium. Relying to a great extent on ancient Irish poetry, he introduces us to a world of lusty violence, boastful warrior men and women and frightening gods. Cahill traces the basis of the Irish sensibility, which regards all of creation as emanating God's personal glory, as coming in a straight line from the life-affirming pre-literates of the Irish country. We meet Alil and Mave, the King and Queen of "The Toyne" as they boast to each other of their personal riches. We met Patricius, later Saint Patrick, from his easy youth, through his slave days, his liberation and later through his writings. His preaching brought a version of Christianity to the Irish that built on their own sense of the holy, and existed in stark contract to the flesh-hating vision of St. Augustine on the mainland. Saint Columba's story is also told, from his illegal copying of a psalter to his exile and establishment of many missionary communities. Cahill's depiction of the fall of Rome and of the start of the Dark Ages is quite welcome, if stark and overdrawn, pitting shrinking islands of Church (and therefore Roman-style) control against a dark, dirty, writhing mass of Germanic illiteracy and barbarism.

Cahill, as he does in his other books, vastly overstates his case and oversimplifies his facts. In his telling, Irish and Irish-Scot monks were the sole remaining keepers of European literacy and culture. Their eventual travels into the mainland re-introduced the benighted barbarians knowledge that had been utterly lost. That this is at odds with most histories of Europe is more than a little troubling. But Cahill's obvious love of Irish poetry is somewhat redeeming, and makes this volume slightly less of an ode to himself and his race. The audio version of the book is highly recommended to hear his words sung rather than merely spoken.

This is another one of those books whose title represents only a tiny fraction of what is actually covered in the book. There is only a 50-page chapter (out of 220 pages) that is about how the "Irish Saved Civilization" and only about 20 pages of that are specifically about this subject. The idea of the book, as expressed by the title, is that Irish monks saved the record of the civilization of the Greeks and Romans by coping, and thereby preserving, Greek and Latin manuscripts. They also traveled to Scotland, England and to the continent, where they "brought their love of learning .... they reestablished literacy and breathed new life into the exhausted literary culture of Europe." The author also goes into the history of the late Roman Empire, the civilization of the Celts, the writings of Saint Augustine, the life of Saint Patrick, and the roots and practices of Irish monasticism and Irish Catholicism. I recommend this book only if you are primarily interested in these topics, as opposed to what the title purport's the book to be about. If you only want the story of "How the Irish Saved Civilization" the little that is actually devoted to this subject will disappoint you.

I found writing to be entertaining, but the history very simplistic and open to criticism. The author leaves out the fact that monks who removed the writing on the pages in order to save the parchment for reuse in fact destroyed many of the Greek and Roman manuscripts. Fortunately, modern techniques have allowed some of the underlying original text to be recovered. The author also does not mention that much (perhaps most) of the writings of the Greeks and Romans were preserved in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and by the Moslems who inherited these works when they conquered the Eastern Empire. In relating this story, the author discusses the history of the end of the Western Roman Empire, but if that is primarily what you are interested in, I recommend Peter Heather's recent book, "The Fall of the Roman Empire" as a much better source. Heather's is a well-documented presentation (unlike Cahill's book) that is at odds with Cahill's book on many points, but much of this has already been pointed out in other reviews, so I will not dwell on this.

Cahill's writing is entertaining and he does provide some interesting information. The book is also short and can be read in one, or at most a few, sittings. All in all, even given the weak history, I am giving the book 3 stars, mostly for brevity and an entertaining style. It is a good choice for those who want a short and entertaining book that is on a historical topic, without being a history book per se, but those who want a history of the title subject will be very disappointed, as I was.