Free Kindle How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story Of Ireland's Heroic Role From The Fall Of Rome To The Rise Of Medieval Europe ebooks Download
The perfect St. Patrick's Day gift, and a book in the best tradition of popular history -- the untold story of Ireland's role in maintaining Western culture while the Dark Ages settled on Europe. Every year millions of Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but they may not be aware of how great an influence St. Patrick was on the subsequent history of civilization. Not only did he bring Christianity to Ireland, he instilled a sense of literacy and learning that would create the conditions that allowed Ireland to become "the isle of saints and scholars" -- and thus preserve Western culture while Europe was being overrun by barbarians. In this entertaining and compelling narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization -- copying manuscripts of Greek and Latin writers, both pagan and Christian, while libraries and learning on the continent were forever lost -- they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task. As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated. In the tradition of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, How The Irish Saved Civilization reconstructs an era that few know about but which is central to understanding our past and our cultural heritage. But it conveys its knowledge with a winking wit that aptly captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilization.From the Hardcover edition.
Audio CD
Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (October 28, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 073930965X
ISBN-13: 978-0739309650
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1 x 5.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (559 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #132,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #5 in Books > Books on CD > History > Europe #77 in Books > Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Alphabet #187 in Books > Books on CD > General
I might as well state it plainly: this book is the stupidest scholarly work I have ever read. I gave it up halfway through, and thus read twice as much as I should have.As a kid growing up in Ireland I remember our primary school teacher telling us about the important work carried out by Irish monks beginning in the sixth century, where they preserved and copied many important works of the ancient Western canon and slowly helped to re-illuminate Europe during the Dark Ages. Since then I've always preserved a certain curiosity about the story at the back of my mind. As a colonized people, Ireland's indigenous culture was suppressed for centuries, so could it be true that in a pre-colonial period the Irish had helped to save Western civilisation? When I saw this book on the shelf I bought it straight away.In fairness, I should have been more circumspect. The reviews on the back cover used phrases like "shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly" [Thomas Keneally]; "lyrical, playful ... entirely engaging" [NY Times]; "entertainingly told" [Sunday Telegraph] which should have rung all sorts of warning bells. Keneally (who should know better) is accidentally correct when he uses the term "effortlessly scholarly" since it's plain as day that no scholarly effort at all went into this researchless mess. I have not the space here to describe the crazed prose flowing from Cahill's out-of-control pen, nor the arm-chancing shallowness of his unbearable pseduo-intellectualism. With little of any substance to comment on, much of the book's intellectual pedigree can be can be judged from the prose style alone. Cahill plainly takes himself quite seriously as a scholar, but the mask just keeps slipping. The following are some examples.
How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (The Hinges of History) How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe The Renaissance: A History of Civilization in Italy from 1304 -1576 AD (The Story of Civilization series, Volume 5) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) The Reformation: A History of European Civilization from Wycliffe to Calvin, 1300 - 1564 (Story of Civilization series, Volume 6) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland (History of Ireland & the Irish Diaspora) Sweet Medicine: Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in Northern Cheyenne History (Civilization of the ... Civilization of the American Indian Series) The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance (Second Revised Edition) (Vol. 2) (Story of the World) The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Activity Book 2: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance The Story of the World, Activity book two, The Middle Ages: From the fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2 Audiobook: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance, Revised Edition (9 CDs) (v. 2) The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry That's Not How We Do It Here!: A Story about How Organizations Rise and Fall--and Can Rise Again Saved by the Boats: The Heroic Sea Evacuation of September 11 (Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books) The Age of Reason Begins: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558 - ... Book 7) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) The Age of Louis XIV: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Pascal, Moliere, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza, ... Book 8) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone The Man Who Saved the V-8: The Untold Stories of Some of the Most Important Product Decisions in the History of Ford Motor Company The Pilgrim's Guide to Rome's Principal Churches: Illustrated Guided Tours of Fifty-one of the Most Important Churches of Rome Pasta: Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome, Rome Sustainable Food Project
