How the Irish Saved Civilization

The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

By: Thomas Cahill

Narrated by: Donal Donnelly

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©1995 Thomas Cahill (P)1999 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, a Division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Cahill's lovely prose breathes life into a 1,600-year-old history." (The Los Angeles Times)

"Charming and poetic...an entirely engaging, delectable voyage into the distant past, a small treasure." (The New York Times)

"Cahill's lively prose breathes life into a 1,600-year-old history." (The Boston Globe)

Ponderous history

This is a quick review - interesting content...dreadful delivery. The narration was either very uneven or SOOOO SLOW and PONDEROUS that I quickly drifted off. Buy the book instead, unless you need a sleeping aid (for which I use this recording).

Review

Quite a few zingers makes this amusing to listen to. The Irish accent is at times a bit difficult and at other times makes it fun.

History with an inspired thread of narrative

I really enjoyed this book,finishing it in just 3 days. The author tied together ancient literature and history with a thread of how knowledge was preserved during the breakup of the Roman Empire. Buried in the middle is the story of Saint Patrick. After this book, I'll never see St Patrick's day the same way again.

Are You Irish?

I read this book years ago and have to admit I didn't understand it. This reading was entertaining and illuminating. If you are interested in history or religion, this is a wonderful book to spend some time with.

Maybe read the book

I would have enjoyed reading it much more than listening to it.

1) The author is wordy and detailed. I could have sped over those parts reading it.

2) The narrator's style is difficult to appreciate. I strained to complete the book because he, in my opinion, was overdoing his role.

3) One more thing, consider starting with chapter 3.

Decent book, bad narration

The book is 80% setup, entire chapters of poetry read in Latin and then reread in English which seemed to be filler more than useful information. You could skip to the final 2-3 chapters and learn how the Irish saved civilization

A Great Introduction to Ireland and St. Patrick

This book is extremely enthusiastic about its topic and does a brilliant job in tracing the great influence that Irish peoples had on medieval Europe and thereby all of civilization. It starts with a long discussion of the collapse of the Roman Empire, then moves to St. Patrick’s conversion of Ireland. There are many comparisons made between St. Patrick & St. Augustine. It draws out the great differences between the 2 both in idealology &* methodology – these differences greatly impacting the traditions that followed each.

The book also delves into the history of the Celts and their crazy pagan ways. Finally, the second half draws out the main theme. It deals with the way Ireland so quickly became Christianized & literate. Then Irish monks snatched up books from all over Europe whenever the rest of Europe was hitting its lowest point of chaos brought on by the constant Barbarian invasions. Irish monks saved many of our now most precious Latin and Greek ancient texts, recopied them and preserved them. Later, Irish monks re-Christianized much of Britain and continental Europe after much of these peoples had lost touch with civilization.

The book is a great intro into the vast impact Ireland had on civilization. The author inserted his own opinions into the book. This was enjoyable & insightful - particularly when he drew out how Irish Catholicism was less unified & more lax on the rules (like the role of women in church leadership). On the other hand, I did not enjoy the fact that the author wrote about Christianity as if it was a tool by which mankind improved itself, but that Christianity in itself is not true any other than any other religion. The author clearly does not believe in any hint of real miracles or real mythology.

Way Awesome!

Completely, totally rad, dude!!!! Awesome voices by the narrator. Always fun to hear a history from another perspective!

Extremely poor narration!

I read the abridged version of this book narrated by actor, Liam Neeson, and frankly, even without the award-winning name behind it, the abridged version is far better especially in terms of narration than the unabridged version. This was something I was planning on having my kids listen to, but there's no way they'll sit through the painful process of listening to this narrator, regardless the content and interesting value to the story itself. I think I'll play them the abridged version and buy the book for them to read if they choose to read the full bbook instead. Very disappointed in the narration.

Narration too affected

Read this book years ago and liked it- this audio version however is difficult to listen to.
Narrator seems to be “performing.” Too distracting.