it was a cute little history book. ( )

I can understand some of the dissenting opinions about this book on Goodreads--much of the book didn't have to do directly with Cahill's thesis on how the Irish saved civilization. It had a long build-up. Personally, though, I am very interested in literature and philosophy, so I enjoyed learning about the Romans, Augustine, St. Patrick, etc.--both the history and the myths. It also served as a good "gateway book" for me to find and read more on the historical figures mentioned, plus other books by authors Cahill brought up such as Yeats.

And warrior monks. Awesomely righteous warrior monks. ( )

6.5/10
“How the Irish Saved Western Civilization” would maybe have been a better title…
The author is first a storyteller and this history book is made more readable by his style. I found some chapters to be a little dry and somewhat irrelevant to the overall thesis, but that changed once the focus zeroed in on Ireland. I think my familiarity with Irish lore and the fact that I’ve visited many of the places in Ireland and Scotland mentioned in the book made Parts III through VII more enjoyable and more pertinent. ( )

I just couldn't stay focused on hardly any of this. ( )

Between 400 and 600, the world as it had been previously known ended for Europe and the Near East.

We generally look at this period as a dark time since it featured the collapse of the Roman Empire, a loss from which Europe would strive to recover over the next 1400 years.

But that period looked quite different in Ireland, as well expressed by Thomas Cahill in How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (affiliate link).

Cahill set the tone by exploring the Roman world and Ireland as they had existed at the turn of the fifth century: Rome, the inheritor of the legacy of the Classical world and over a millennium of philosophical, scientific, religious, etc. advancements and learning; Ireland, as pagan and remote as ever.

Cahill then explored the great reversal over the next two hundred years: overrun by the “barbarians” to the east, beset by plagues and famines, the Roman Empire collapsed, and in the urgency of survival, much of the ancient learning was lost. Patricius, a Briton Celtic born and raised as a Christian, was captured by Irish pirates and was enslaved; he escaped slavery but felt called to proclaim Jesus to the Irish. After getting some training, Patricius returned and found ways to well evangelize the Irish; he would become known as St. Patrick, and by the end of the fifth century Ireland had been well evangelized and mostly Christian. Cahill describes how the Celtic Christianity of this age was quite distinct from standard Roman Catholicism later, or even at that same time, and how little connection existed between Rome and Ireland.

Cahill then considered what would follow: many of the Irish would dedicate themselves to Jesus and the monastery, and not a few desired to cultivate learning. Irish monks and scribes would collect manuscripts of the Bible but also of the Greek and Latin classics and would copy them.

Thus Irish Christians preserved a lot of the classical works which remain to this day. The Book of Kells is a beautiful Irish manuscript. And Irish monks would spread throughout western Europe, setting up monasteries in Scotland, England, and what we consider France and Germany. Many of Charlemagne’s favored scholar monks were Irish. And wherever they went, they not only brought their distinctive expression of Christianity, but also dedication to copying manuscripts and preserving the heritage of a culture which had not been their own at the time.

While there were still conflicts among the Irish from 450-600, the chaos enveloping everywhere else left them alone: they would only begin suffering Viking, then Anglo-Norman, then British invasion after 750. In this way the Irish lost some of that distinctiveness in scholasticism and suffered themselves as other Europeans had been suffering in the fifth and sixth centuries.

But by the time the Vikings began to invade and pillage, the situation in France, Germany, England, etc. had somewhat stabilized. Their own would learn from the Irish monks and continue their work in their countries.

When the author told this story, it was not otherwise well known. The author likes to make broad characterizations which we today would find a bit prejudicial. But the story is quite engaging and powerful, and a reminder of the great power possible in the Gospel of Jesus Christ: for as the rest of the world was burning, Ireland found Jesus and enjoyed a golden age. ( )

I can't say I didn't like this book because who doesn't love to read about the magical, mysterious history of Ireland? However, it's definitely not something I'd read again. The first 60 pages could have easily been summed up in a paragraph or two to set the stage for the story---I should really get a prize for muddling through them as I did.

After that, it seemed the author took turns being very basic (to the point of explaining the proper pronunciation of Celts or being vague for chapters about the enigmatic "Patricus"---gee, wonder who that turned out to be?) and being so tedious that I found myself skipping paragraphs just to stay awake.

Still, as usual, I found some interesting bits. I didn't realize that the Biblical Galatians were the people of Gaul---ancient Celts. Now I'm craving to go back and reread Galatians with that in mind.

There's a book I read in college, Sun Dancing, about Skellig Michael. If anything, this book gave me a desire to go back and read through that again. ( )

Amazing. I truly enjoy learning how the past has shaped the present. ( )

In the beginning of How the Irish Saved Civilization we examine the philosophies of Augustine, Plato, and Cicero. Augustine's knowledge is considered the portal into the classical world. The most influential man in Irish history is Patrick, of course. He was the first to advocate for the end to slavery. He had a lifelong commitment to end violence and he was not afraid of his enemies. Irish Catholicism was sympathetic towards sinners, accepting of diversity and women in leadership roles, and considered sexual mores unimportant.
Cahill has a sense of humor. Cahill also includes a map of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to orientate his readers.
Spoiler alert: the answer to how the Irish saved civilization is that they brought their literacy and love of learning to the rest of the world. Probably one of the most fascinating parts of How the Irish Saved Civilization is how the Irish monks buried their beloved books and valuable metalworks to hide them from the Vikings. Cahill claims that even today farmers are known to unearth lost treasures. ( )

I borrowed the book from the library to learn about St Patrick. By reading it I have a good idea of history from the fall of Roman empire. The little backwater Ireland and the scribes in the monasteries played a big part in saving much literature and historical bible texts. I now have a great admiration for St Patrick and the tenacity of the Irish people. He was the right influential leader and the right time. Turned them from fighting to loving Christians with a heart for God. A magic book, written in an easy style, teaching about history and illuminating historical influences and key people. ( )

Cahill points out why some parts of history stand out. ( )

Thomas Cahill manages to illuminate the Dark Ages by telling the story of how Christianity came to Ireland and inspired Irish monks to both preserve ancient books and to act as missionaries to Europe. The book begins with a portrait of the Roman Empire shortly before it fell including a sketch of Saint Augustine. It then switches to Briton and to Ireland telling the story of Saint Patrick and how he brought Christianity to Ireland. Cahill makes clear that the Irish Christianity was different and more relaxed than the Christianity that had spread in the Roman Empire. He then talks about how the and why the Irish monks copied so many of the ancient Latin and Greek documents. Finally, he concludes be showing the influence of the Irish missionaries to Europe.

The book is very readable and describes events that I was previously not familiar with. It is strongly recommended to anyone interested in religious history or in the history of the Dark Ages or Middle Ages. ( )

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. ( )

I'll have to agree with some of the reviews, this book meandered through the Roman civilization too long and was not as informative as I had hoped. It is an interesting hypothesis, and it was certainly a laudable amount of work to have "saved" our literature, but the book was not as interesting as I had hoped. ( )

I'm glad I had a chance to read this, and it's an interesting angle of history, but it also was a bit slow to work through and I won't come back to it again and again. ( )

Excellent book on medieval history and particularly on Irish history. Starting at the ending days of the Roman Empire and ending at the fall of Ireland as leader in Europe, How the Irish Saved Civilization steps you through the important influencers in Irish history that kept the written world from the Greek and Roman civilizations alive after Rome fell. Those influencers were particularly the hermits and monks who fell in love with the written word, and became copyists in their isolation, and who eventually brought a new brand of Christianity and the classics back to the mainland. Highly recommended. ( )

Rather than a heroic role in saving civilization, I felt that Cahill made a case that the Irish of the middle ages played a somewhat accidental roll in "saving" civilization. Nonetheless, there was a lot of information which was new to me, especially regarding Irish history. But the book also went into other periphial areas such as the ancient greeks, which added pages but didn't contribute much to making the point of the books title. ( )

This is the Frasier Crane of history books.

I consumed this as an audiobook because I thought it would be a nice, light book that kept me interested while I worked on other tasks. I wasn't too far into the book before I started wondering if this was meant to be satirical, some kind of theatrical spoof on academic snobbery. Like an exaggerated John Houseman impersonation. The narrators accent was just.....weird. Usually that doesn't mother me, I've been exposed to a lot of accents that can't be defined but usually that's because the speaker moved around from one country to another. This narrator's accent struck me as being for stage, and from 75 years ago. Kind of a Boston Brahman, mid-atlantic hybrid but with an english twang (yes I said twang.) If you've seen Black Adder, there's an episode where some actors from MacBeth visit the king and try and teach him how to project his voice. That's how the narrator spoke. And yelling every word! Like, dude, the microphone is right there.

OK, so I didn't give this book one star just because I didn't like the narrator. I gave it one star because I spent most of my time thinking "What is he talking about and who is he talking to?" Ah yes, dear reader he is talking directly to you. Or is he. Because of the audiobook format I was never sure if the author was talking to the reader or if he was quoting someone talking to another reader. It was all very confusing. Even so, what I did pick up was that he was spending a lot of time talking about specific Caesars and goings on in Rome that had nothing really to do with the Irish. At first I thought he was setting up some context around the fall of Rome, and perhaps he was, but it just seemed like he was rambling.

After reading some reviews about the book having a slow start I tried giving it another chance by jumping ahead a few chapters. It didn't help. Finally I decided it just wasn't worthy of my attention.

( )

2013 (my review can be found on the LibraryThing page linked)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/160515#4377757

I borrowed the book from the library to learn about St Patrick. By reading it I have a good idea of history from the fall of Roman empire. The little backwater Ireland and the scribes in the monasteries played a big part in saving much literature and historical bible texts. I now have a great admiration for St Patrick and the tenacity of the Irish people. He was the right influential leader and the right time. Turned them from fighting to loving Christians with a heart for God. A magic book, written in an easy style, teaching about history and illuminating historical influences and key people. ( )

This is one of my wife's favorite books (Carol Kendall). It tells of Patrick, who was kidnapped from England and was a hungry cold slave in Ireland for 6 years. He prayed a lot. Then he had a dream that his ship was waiting. He walked 200 miles and escaped back home to England.

But he could not rest. He had the urge to go back to Ireland to teach them about Jesus. They founded monasteries and devoured learning, copying classical books. Meanwhile, Europe was being overrun by barbarians as the Roman civilization collapsed.

Ireland sent missionaries back to England and the continent, taking their books with them. If it hadn't been for these books being copied and preserved in Ireland, we would have lost most of the Latin corpus. Hebrew and Greek would have largely survived, but it is because of the Irish missionaries that we have the Latin works.

Reading this book at the same time I am in the middle of reading [b:History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|19200877|History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Annotated)|Edward Gibbon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386229836s/19200877.jpg|47478742] was a little bit difficult because a large part of this book is background material, that is, the decline of the Roman civilization.

Table of Contents
Introduction: How Real is History
1: The End of the World: How Rome Fell - and Why
2: What was Lost: The Complexities of the Classical Tradition
3: A Shifting World of Darkness: Unholy Ireland
4: Good News from Far Off: The First Missionary
5: A Solid World of Light: Holy Ireland
6: What was Found: How the Irish Saved Civilization
7: Is There any Hope (Thoughts on our future)
Pronunciation Guide
Bibliographical Sources
Chronology
Acknowledgments
Index ( )

A fascinating book about the preservation of most classical literature and even literacy during the Dark Ages between the fifth and tenth centuries. I especially liked how it was liberally sprinkled with period poetry that gave a great deal of insight into the attitudes of the Romans in late antiquity and the Irish of the Dark Ages.

I also discovered what is now one of my all-time favorite quotes at the beginning of the first chapter: "Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love." -- Reinhold Niebuhr

I also loved this poem by a scribe in medieval Ireland, which this book quoted in full:

I and Pangur Ban my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

'Tis a merry thing to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye,
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

So in peace our task we ply,
Pangur Ban my cat and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

I would recommend this to anyone wondering about how the Dark Ages became the Middle Ages, or to anyone with a love of books and the unlikely story of their survival. ( )