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Details
How the Irish Saved Civilization
Author: Thomas Cahill
Series: The Hinges of History
Narrator: Donal Donnelly
Abridged: 3 hr 1 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 07/05/2000
Genre: History - Europe - Ireland
Synopsis
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.
by Thomas Cahill
Published: 07/05/2000
by Thomas Cahill
Published: 07/05/2000
Reviews Write A Review
Cahill has only one point to make: Irish monasteries developed a talent for copying texts and did so during the early Dark Ages, thereby saving many classical texts from oblivion. There. That's the book. But Cahill needs to pad it out, so he spends many, Many pages telling us what is in the books copied by the monks and why those texts were worth saving. So if you want to hear a treatise on classical and early Christian philosophy, you may find this less tedious than I did.
This may be an excellent book on CD for all I know but honestly, I didn't give it a chance. I found myself bored from the start. zzzzzzzzzzz Returned before I finished the first disc.
The Hinges of History Bundle
Get 5% off your total order by adding 3 or more audiobooks from The Hinges of History
How the Irish Saved Civilization
The Hinges of History
Desire of the Everlasting Hills
The Hinges of History
Heretics and Heroes
The Hinges of History
Or Choose Any 3 Audiobooks From This Series >