Thomas Cahill
Paperback | Pages: 246 pages Rating: 3.81 | 38006 Users | 1659 Reviews
Define Based On Books 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 #1)
| Title | : | 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 #1) |
| Author | : | Thomas Cahill |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 246 pages |
| Published | : | February 1st 1996 by Bantam Doubleday Dell (NYC) (first published February 15th 1995) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Cultural. Ireland. European Literature. Irish Literature. Historical. Religion. European History |
Commentary Toward Books 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 #1)
From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne - the "dark ages" - learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of western civilization - from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works - would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of unconquered Ireland.In this delightful and illuminating look into a crucial but little-known "hinge" of history, Thomas Cahill takes us to the "island of saints and scholars, " the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells. Here, far from the barbarian despoliation of the continent, monks and scribes laboriously, lovingly, even playfully preserved the west's written treasures. With the return of stability in Europe, these Irish scholars were instrumental in spreading learning. Thus the Irish not only were conservators of civilization, but became shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on western culture.
Particularize Books Concering 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 #1)
| Original Title: | How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe |
| ISBN: | 0385418493 (ISBN13: 9780385418492) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Hinges of History #1 |
| Setting: | Ireland |
Rating Based On Books 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 #1)
Ratings: 3.81 From 38006 Users | 1659 ReviewsArticle Based On Books 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 #1)
Review Title: When in Ireland,...As I have gotten the chance in the last year to see some of the fabulous treasures of Christianity in the British Museum and Library, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and Dublin's Trinity College, and see some of the ruins of 6th to 10th Century England and Ireland, I have often referred to Cahill's only partially tongue in cheek title. I had read the book several years ago before I had started listing and then writing down what I thought about the books I read,4.5 stars rounded upI had those why-was-none-of-this-ever mentioned-in-school? moments several times as I was reading through this pithy tome on one of Ireland's distant but most historically important eras of the past.Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization" tells the story of Ireland's early Christian monks who became nearly the sole preservers of western literary and religious tradition.Knowledge of pre-medieval European history is probably a rarity for most of us, certainly in the U.S. --
I recently wrote somewhere that Cahill is a great writer of popular history. I didn't really qualify that remark. Cahill doesn't write popular history, he writes about history in a way that the most readers possible, could enjoy. How the Irish Saved Civilization is a perfect example of this. His premise is fairly simple; while the Roman world is collapsing and being taken over by 'barbarians' across the continent, Irish monks, beginning with Saint Patrick, create a new civilization of religion
In college I took a class entitled "Christianity in History." It turned out to be merely a church history class.This book is everything I wished that course had been, but wasn't. It does an amazing job in pointing out how Christians have impacted history, summed up best in it's final sentence:If our civilization is to be saved -- forget about our civilization, which, as Patrick would say, may pass "in a moment like a cloud or smoke that is scattered by the wind" -- if we are to be saved, it will
Cahill may occasionally engage in exaggeration and speculation, but he increased my interest in history. I have read the first four books in the Hinges of History series, starting book 1 almost 20 years ago, so my memory is not bright. However, the books stuck with me fairly well. Kudos to the author for that. Since then, Cahill wrote two more books, but I have not read them. This is quasi-history told in a fairly accessible narrative style -- if at times meandering. Cahill is not a historian,
What a great book! A pleasure to read.
This was awful. Many reviews say things like "charming" and "pleasant," but I thought it was tedious and meandering. Not all history has to be chronological; there's interesting stuff in here but it's too long with details of Roman society. Also, the author writes like a blow-hard, and interjects things like "Alas!" and "Dear Reader" and "It is up to the reader to decide." That kind of stuff irritates me to no end.Searching for info online, I found references that refute much of what the author
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