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Loading... How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic… (1995)by Thomas Cahill
![]() No current Talk conversations about this book. Forgot I read this in college until I saw it at the library. Derp! ( ![]() After hearing my mentor speak about and reference this book numerous times, I finally read it for myself. This book was written amazingly well and has sent me down dozens of rabbit trails that I may never reach the end of. This is a history that I was mostly ignorant of (save what my mentor had shared) and having it opened up to me in this book has been a wonderful experience. I was not at all prepared to be really moved in any way, but reading about the zeal that these traveling monks had for the Lord, and the love they had for the people was inspiring as well as convicting. I look forward to revisiting this book many times over the years and digging deeper into this great story. Here's what I wrote about this read in 2008: "Well, it turns out that Irish did continue to scribe and keep alive the manuscripts of Christianity during the dark ages. An informative and educational read as MGA and DBA took a 15-year anniversary trip to Ireland!" True but the Irish we not the only ones scribing and illuminating those manuscripts; nor were they the only ones practicing and spreading faith in on the British Isles and western Europe. You learned more about all of this in 2022 as part of the St. Cuthbert's Way Pilgramage. A fairly average book with a killer ending. Exceptionally well researched and written, Thomas Cahill brings alive a culture lost before the dark ages. This book will be of great in to those who fancy they know all about the Holy Roman Empire. no reviews | add a review
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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. No library descriptions found.
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)941.501 — History and Geography Europe British Isles IrelandLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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