![]() Beginning with the decline of Rome, he guides us through classical literature and its impact on Augustine before he takes us further back in time to the origins of Ireland and the Celts. Somewhat whimsically, Cahill devotes only his final 50 pages to the crucial period between the seventh and ninth centuries, spending three- quarters of his book on a very vivid mise-en-scäne. Cahill (director of religious publishing at Doubleday and coauthor with his wife, Susan, of A Literary Guide to Ireland, 1973) introduces us to saints and scholars: the warrior-monk Columcille, for example, who, exiled to Iona, defended poetry and the bards and baptized Scotland and Columbanus, who died in Lombardy after having founded more than 60 monasteries en route from Ireland. As the Roman Empire imploded and barbarians descended upon the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, the Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great task of copying all the literature they could find and, by their wanderings to the court of Charlemagne and throughout Europe, assured the continuity of civilization through the Dark Ages. ![]() ![]() Scholarship, humor, and a keen understanding of human nature combine in this history of Ireland and her rarely acknowledged contribution to European culture. ![]()
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