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How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History) | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Cahill
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.56
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Rating:  257 reviews
Sales Rank: 6061
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Anchor Books Ed
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5
ISBN: 0385418493
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.501
EAN: 9780385418492
ASIN: 0385418493
Publication Date: February 1, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Standard used condition.
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Amazon.com
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 treasury. When stability returned in Europe, these Irish scholars were instrumental in spreading learning, becoming not only the conservators of civilization, but also the shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on Western culture.
Product Description
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.
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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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 252 more reviews...
 OTHERS HAD THE BOOKS & DID THE PRESERVING! EX: TOLEDO LIBRARY'S 400,000 BOOKS, WHILE IRISH MONASTERY HAD 70??? January 5, 2006
Steve Guardala (Long Island, NY.)
299 out of 351 found this review helpful
This is the worst propaganda I have ever read! Reviewers like Miguel Farah Fugate & Michael Taylor-Scipio are correct, the author does not prove any of his claims. He could not name one single work of history, science, engineering, mathematics, literature, art, philosophy, etc that was SAVED by these Irish monks.
It should be noted that the author went to University to study literature, he does not have any credentials as a historian, plus the lack of in depth analysis & specifics makes his thesis highly suspect as Jeffergray's review pointed out.
An authentic historian Richard Fletcher in his fine book "THE BARBARIAN CONVERSION" stated on three different pages 92,159, & 520 that it is a myth that there ever was a "Celtic church," let alone one that remained totally independent from Rome. The Irish did not even call themselves Celtic until the eighteenth century.
The author does not even start to address his thesis untill chapter 6. On 181 he claims that the Germans destroyed all of the libraries and schools? Yet, he provides no evidence. I suggest reading Herwig Wolfram's "The Roman Empire And It's Germanic Peoples." Ex: "The Breviary {Roman Law Codes}Of Alaric the 2nd in 506, proves the Germans were preserving far more than they were destroying."
On 194 there is a map of supposedly Irish founded monasteries? Again he chose not to mention that most had already been created by earlier orders of monks. Including those of the Germans-Franks and Ostrogoths that the author bashes every chance he gets. On 195 he claims that over half of all the biblical commentaries written between 650-850 were written by the Irish? I think The Greek and Roman churches would heartily DISAGREE!
On 203 "Greek thought was lost?" What about the 50 million people living in the Greek speaking Byzantine Empire? On 204, he claims that the Roman contingent at the Synod at Whitby in 664 was not capable of "intellectual disputation." Proof? Yet, the English kings adopted the Roman church.
Who does the author think built Western Civilization, Irish monks or the ROMANS? The Byzantines and Arabs provided the medieval world with many Geographers before & after Dicuil. Although he mentions the Arab library at Toledo, he chose not to mention that it had over 400,000 books, none of which can be attributed to any Irish monks. Compare the latter with St. Columbanus' library at the Bobbio Monastery which had only 70 books? Also, by 628 the Bobbio monastery became Benedictine since it rapidly declined after its founders death. Then it slowly became a center of learning with a school & larger library. The author again chose not to mention these facts.
For a thousand years after Rome ceased to exist as a political force in the west the scholarly courts of Europe were dominated by the Italian Benedictines, Arabs, Byzantines, and Jews. Before 500A.D. the Irish relied on the Romanized Britons, the Roman and Greek churches for their books. Saint Patrick did not bring a library with him. After that date the preservation of books in western Europe was dominated by the Benedictines. It was the latter that turned swamps and forests into fertile fields, stressed hygiene, harnessed waterpower, bred healthier strains of livestock, built schools, libraries, and repaired Roman acquaducts and roads. That in itself disproves both the title and the specious premise! I have written two other reviews of this for the U.K. and Canada.
ZERO! February 13, 2006
Truthful History (The Unknown Realms.)
235 out of 258 found this review helpful
This revisionist pamphlet has few facts, foototes, or a realistic bibliography. The author is trying to push Irishcentric sentiment over truthful history. The author took over half of the book just to start to prove his laughable thesis. He failed!
Here are some glaring examples of his unschoarly bias. He blames Augustine for the Inquisition, he ridicules Plato on page 51, & he claims that Cicero is boring??? These type of statements are a testament to the authors ignorance. He clearly has many chips on his shoulders! "WHO DOES THE AUTHOR THINK HE IS???"
WHY DOES THE AUTHOR VERY OPENLY BASH THE GREEKS, ROMANS, GERMANS, MORMONS, CHINESE, & HISPANICS??? HE ACTUALLY COMPARED NEW HISPANIC IMMIGRANTS TO THE USA TO THE BARBARIANS WHO INVADED THE ROMAN WORLD IN THE FIFTH CENTURY A.D. WHY IS BIGOTRY ALLOWED IN A BOOK THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A WORK OF SCHOLARSHIP???
This book should be about the Benedictines. As other reviewers have pointed out they gave the Irish their books, & preserved far more knowledge which renders this book as totally false. It was their order that served in the Arab and Byzantine courts, the Irish did not. They peacefully spread Christianity from Wales to West. China, and from Denmark to the Sudan. According to scholar James Burke in his series "Connections" the Benedictines created the first banking system in post Roman Europe, improved farming methods, and had a mini-Industrial Revolution. In contrast this sloppy propaganda deserves ZERO STARS! LASTLY, NOT ONE WORK THAT WAS SAVED ON ANY SUBJECT HAS EVER BEEN ATTRIBUTED SOLELY TO THE WORK OF ANY IRISH MONKS.
Shameful, and I'm Irish! March 15, 2006
I'm Irish
216 out of 224 found this review helpful
Goethe: "Choose well, your choice is brief, and yet endless." This propaganda was endlessly FALSE!!!!! As a history buff I have to take issue with the positive reviews of this Fluff. The most recent rev. by Mr. J. Egolf was largely wrong. First, Ireland did not have 8 million people untill 1840. The climate changes in 535 led to the island losing half its population to famine. The Irish did not precede the Benedictines or most other orders of monks! The Benedictines grew in part out of the earlier orders founded by "Origen in the second century." As the astute rev's have poignantly mentioned THE IRISH GOT THERE BOOKS FROM THE HIGHLY ORGANIZED BENEDICTINES AFTER THE YEAR 500 and from others before that. Despite, Monte Cassino being sacked in 580 and 846 the Benedictines did not lose any books since they hid them in caves were the Lombards and Arabs could not get to. Mr. Cahill even mentioned that the Irish monks were very de-centralized and often at odds with all authority and each other. That removes most of the authors claims in their BIAS TOTALITY. I found the authors remarks about non-Irish very offensive. Why do we Irish have to mock others to build ourselves up? Pieter Balsetiers "Saint Benedict, The Father Of Western Civilization" is a far more in depth and FAIR WORK OF SCHOLARSHIP. He gives the Italians, Jews, Arabs, Armenians, and Greeks the credit they DESERVE! I am returning this book.
THERE WERE OTHERS BEFORE THE IRISH! March 16, 2006
SPAINIARD
208 out of 224 found this review helpful
The Armenian, Coptic, Greek, and Roman chuches, Origen, Cassiodorus, and Boethius, all preceded the Irish monks! They supplied the Irish with their books before the Benedictines. PATRICK WAS A ROMAN, NOT AN IRISHMEN! The Irish did not have monasteries in continental Europe before the aboves. Nor were they as successful. Did the Irish reach China, India, the Sudan? NO THEY DID NOT, THE BENEDICTINES DID! As reviewers titled Honesty, Drivel, and Truthful History have pointed out the Germans and Huns did not destroy all of the schools, libraries, and scriptoriums. Even pope LEO in 452 stated that he was surprised that the Barbarians had largely left the libraries alone. The archaeological record which Mr. Cahill chose to ignore PROVES THIS! Even the Vandals left Augustine's library in Hippo North Africa intact. I politely suggest to all of the reviewers that they read dozens of other authors who have written books on the era 200-800A.D. to get a more Objective analysis. There are some good suggestions from some of the other reviewers.
QUICKSAND THESIS. March 17, 2006
FACTS!
207 out of 222 found this review helpful
Reviewers Spainiard and Ludicrous were 1000% right! Greek did not diappear on the continent. In the southern parts of Italy and Spain as well as much of the Balkans it was almost as widely spoken as Latin untill the 10th century. THIS FACT MAKES THIS BOOK A MERE FOOTNOTE. In fact Isidore of Seville had the largest library in western Europe untill the Arabs built theirs at Toledo in the 8th century. For Mr. Taylor 90% of all the Saints were NON-IRISH. Few people today worship them in Europe. Secondly, the alliance between the Roman church and the Franks built much of the Medieval world. The Irish had nothing to do with that. There is no EVIDENCE that they ever produced 1% as many books as the Italians, Jews, Greeks, Arabs, etc. That in itself should have dissuaded the publisher from printing this drek!
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