Now, the loss of Latin literature would be a big deal, granted. But Latin literature would almost surely have been lost without the Irish…. The Greek Bible, the Greek commentaries, and much of the literature of ancient Greece were well enough preserved at Byzantium…. The Hebrew Bible would have been saved without them, transmitted to our time by scattered communities of Jews. Far from the claim on the inside of the jacket, that "Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works" would have been lost without the intervention of the Irish-which, let's be fair, might be the work of an earnest editor or marketing person-Cahill admits: The paucity of Cahill's argument becomes clear toward the end of the book. Patrick moulded the Irish into the perfect template for monastic life. Yet he never manages to convince me that somehow the unique combination of Ireland's geographical isolation, the oral traditions and religious practices of the Irish, and the mission of St. And that's all well and good I don't mind a look at history from a literary perspective. Cahill spends a lot of time quoting from various works, most of them Irish poetry or folklore.
But it quickly becomes clear that Cahill has very little to argue, which is probably why more of the book is devoted to anecdotes and an exploration of Ireland's literary history. I knew going into this book that its title was hyperbole I did not expect a literal argument that the Irish singlehandedly lead us out of the Dark Ages. Unfortunately, he does, and it's underwhelming. So for the first hundred or so pages, I took it on faith that he would eventually get to the point. These episodes bored me not because they lacked quality but because Cahill didn't bother to tell me why they were germane to his thesis. Thomas Cahill provides an interesting look at the external pressures on Rome during the fifth century, as well as a brief biography on Augustine and one on Saint Patrick. In retrospect, ironically, the first half of the book is the better half.
I was anxious for the book to get to the "good part"-you know, the part where the Irish save civilization.
The first half consists of several anecdotes that set the stage for the history: the fall of Rome, the lives of Saints Augustine and Patrick. My interest began to wane well before I was halfway through. That I persevered is more due to the book's length and my own obstinacy than any particular virtue of How the Irish Saved Civilization. Perhaps the most damning phrase a reader may utter of any book.
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