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How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History #1)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 13,619 ratings · 743 reviews

The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe
This narrative tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, this transition could not have taken place. Irish monks and scribes maintained records of Western civilization and brought their uniquely Irish world-view to t...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published February 1st 1996 by Anchor (first published 1994)

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May 04, 2013 Kathleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: quasi-history, reviewed

Cahill may be overblown and off base at times, but he increased my interest in the Dark Ages. I read the first four books in the Hinges of History series, starting book 1 almost 20 years ago, so my memory is not bright, but they stuck with me fairly well. Kudos to the author for that. Since then, Cahill wrote two more books, but I have not read them. This is quasi-history told in a fairly accessible narrative style -- if at times meandering. Cahill is not a historian, per se, but his education...more Cahill may be overblown and off base at times, but he increased my interest in the Dark Ages. I read the first four books in the Hinges of History series, starting book 1 almost 20 years ago, so my memory is not bright, but they stuck with me fairly well. Kudos to the author for that. Since then, Cahill wrote two more books, but I have not read them. This is quasi-history told in a fairly accessible narrative style -- if at times meandering. Cahill is not a historian, per se, but his education reflects an interest in history, theology, classic texts, and performing arts.

Each book examines how a particular European people changed the world (sorry Asians and Africans). The four cultures (one per book): Irish, Jews, Christians, Greeks. I enjoyed them all but am not a historian, so cannot adequately argue Cahill's points. He probably stretched the "story" to make a strong case for the particular "gifts" he suggests the culture brought to the world, but I always read history through a strainer.

I cannot recall whether Cahill included the contributions women made. I think not.

This book -- How the Irish Saved Civilization -- is the most memorable in the series, for me. It's set primarily in the Dark Ages, after Rome fell, when Visigoths, Goths, and Vandals plundered, burning books, libraries, monasteries, etc. I found some bits riveting, but doubtless there are holes in the author's argument that Irish monks "saved civilization" by saving various classic texts from extinction. They did this by copying and illustrating ancient Greek and Latin writings (Ptolmy, Euclid, Cicero, Plato, etc), as well as ancient scrolls and scriptures. I was rather captivated by these industrious monks, safe from invaders across the Irish Sea, scribbling away in their beehives, creating illuminated manuscripts. I was appalled at the destruction of art, books, and buildings.

However, I felt Cahill overplayed his hand, making more of his grand theory than history warrants, and his own Irish ancestry may have led him to wax poetic, suggesting bias. Still, he portrays several accurate and fascinating views of the Dark Ages, and his theory holds some water. I learned something and remembered it all these years; there's merit in that. I was also interested in Cahill's descriptions of Augustine and St. Patrick. True, he embellished what little we know about Patrick, but he admits that.

According to The Gift of the Jews (book #2), the Hebrew people introduced various concepts to Western Civ: hygiene and kosher food, the written word (along with Phonecians, Greeks, Sumarians, etc), a code of law, and monotheism, including caring for widows and orphans via a tithing system -- much like paying taxes. That's all I remember.

Book #3, Desire of the Everlasting Hills , is thought-provoking. Cahill describes how the message of Christ changed civilization. He attributes to Christ (and to Christians) the gradual propagation of widespread principles of mercy, forgiveness, eleventh-hour second chances, and unconditional love (opposed to the eye-for-an-eye system of retribution). Cahill also attributes to Christianity the transformation of cultures that engage in human sacrifice, and the spread of literacy. He was a little scattered in his arguments. It felt at times weak, yet he makes some good points, and I enjoyed it. He made slight mention of the atrocities perpetrated by the Spanish Inquisition, however.

I have mixed feelings about book #4, Sailing the Wine Dark Sea. I enjoyed it, but was a little disappointed. When I think of all the Greeks were and did, and how much they influenced modern civilization, I grow almost dizzy. So I was giddily anticipating the book, but it fell short of expectation. However, I was intrigued by the notion of the Greeks as intellectual scavengers, sailing the Mediterranean to various ports and bringing the best ideas and inventions (from culture and language to art and science) back to Athens and integrating them into their culture. Eventually, these ideas trickled or gushed into other cultures, and remain part of civilization today. (less)

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Mar 11, 2008 John Wiswell rated it 1 of 5 stars

Mind-numbingly written, building up to a nearly inconsequential conclusion on how Irish monks might have helped preserve some of Europe's classic literature. I'm descended from the Irish and was looking forward to a little nationalist pride, but this failed by underdelivering from its title and being nearly unreadable from the first chapter. It hurts even worse to hear that the claims may have been false.

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Jan 13, 2008 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Irish, Irish lovers, travelers, historians, dreamers, lovers of literature

Recommended to Amy by: my dear dad

Shelves: past-read

I spent a semester studying on the rugged west coast of Ireland, utterly immersed in the culture.

My college owns a line of houses in a tiny village in Ireland, and for nearly 40 years they've paid the villagers to keep it in good condition for the yearly crop of foreigners who descend on it, like me, for four months every year.

The experience itself was wonderful, but preparing for it and the anticipation were almost MORE fun. I read this book with that spirit in mind. I learned how St. Patrick b...more

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Sep 15, 2008 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Though not exactly news to anyone who went to school in Ireland (Cahill seems to have an Irish-American readership as his target audience, particularly given-away by his repeated and annoying generalizations about the 'Irish Spirit' and such like: what does he mean, Jameson or Bushmills?), this nevertheless has lots of good stuff in it and the overall argument is strong.

I particularly liked the early material contrasting the moribund writing of Roman Gallic poet Ausonias with St. Augustine, and...more

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Nov 08, 2007 Ramorx rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Latin and Greek scholars

It seems to me that the basic thesis of this book is absurd. The "Irish" didnt save civilization - a few scholarly monks set to work on preserving the classics, all very noble, but meanwhile the rest of the Irish were cavorting around not being like fucking Romans or Greeks and living a different kind of anti-state and somewhat anti-authoritarian "civilization".

This from wikipedia -
Celtic Ireland (650-1650)
In Celtic Irish society of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, courts and the law we...more It seems to me that the basic thesis of this book is absurd. The "Irish" didnt save civilization - a few scholarly monks set to work on preserving the classics, all very noble, but meanwhile the rest of the Irish were cavorting around not being like fucking Romans or Greeks and living a different kind of anti-state and somewhat anti-authoritarian "civilization".

This from wikipedia -
Celtic Ireland (650-1650)
In Celtic Irish society of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, courts and the law were largely anarchist, and operated in a purely stateless manner. This society persisted in this manner for roughly a thousand years until its conquest by England in the seventeenth century. In contrast to many similarly functioning tribal societies, preconquest Ireland was not in any sense "primitive": it was a highly complex society that was, for centuries, the most advanced, most scholarly, and most civilized in all of Western Europe. A leading authority on ancient Irish law wrote, "There was no legislature, no bailiffs, no police, no public enforcement of justice... There was no trace of State-administered justice.[1]

All "freemen" who owned land, all professionals, and all craftsmen, were entitled to become members of a tuath. Each tuath's members formed an annual assembly which decided all common policies, declared war or peace on other tuatha, and elected or deposed their "kings." In contrast to primitive tribes, no one was stuck or bound to a given tuath, either because of kinship or of geographical location. Individual members were free to, and often did, secede from a tuath and join a competing tuath. Professor Peden states, "the tuath is thus a body of persons voluntarily united for socially beneficial purposes and the sum total of the landed properties of its members constituted its territorial dimension.[2] The "king" had no political power; he could not decree or administer justice or declare war. Basically he was a priest and militia leader, and presided over the tuath assemblies.

Celtic Ireland survived many invasions, but was finally vanquished by Oliver Cromwell's reconquest in 1649-50.

[edit] (less)

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Dan Absurd? From his comments I take it that if Ramorx is not Irish himself he has delved into Irish History in at least some depth. Is he British, perhap...more
updated Apr 15, 2012 04:43am

Maria Meagher Wikipedia isn't "delving into Irish history", I'm afraid to say.
Jul 08, 2012 03:58am

Aug 05, 2007 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Here Cahill provides a popular-level history of the early middle ages with mixed success. His greatest asset is a suprisingly strong prose style, which allows him to effortlessly, and even peotically, lead his readers through a complicated and fuzzy period of history. No doubt this is the reason the book was a bestseller. But it also proves to be his downfall in that his efortless sentences ellide the complexity of his subject matter. Perhaps this is the fate of all popularizers, but I found mys...more Here Cahill provides a popular-level history of the early middle ages with mixed success. His greatest asset is a suprisingly strong prose style, which allows him to effortlessly, and even peotically, lead his readers through a complicated and fuzzy period of history. No doubt this is the reason the book was a bestseller. But it also proves to be his downfall in that his efortless sentences ellide the complexity of his subject matter. Perhaps this is the fate of all popularizers, but I found myself time and again cringing at the frequent bald assertions with which he moves the narrative forward. This is not to say that he cannot reach the deeper parts of his story. Indeed, he does go deep at many points, but I was left wishing that he would do this more. His readings of early Irish vernacular literature are excellent, and his discussion of Augustine of Hippo is lively in the best of ways. And yet at times, especially in the later parts of the book, it feels like he is telling a story rather than explaining it. And explanation is what is required when you provacatively title your book How the Irish Saved Civilization.

And about the title: it's completely wrong for the book! Its unfortunate hyperbole begs caveats, which Cahill is eventually required to give. His actual claim is that the Irish people, specifically the Irish monastic communities in Ireland and the rest of Europe, played an important part in human history by preserving Latin learning in a time when no one else was doing so. And this is a fair assesment of the situation in the early middle ages. But it is a long way from the Irish people as saviors of the Western World. As he himself notes, it was only the Roman, not the Greek or Jewish or Christian books that the Irish needed to save. "Yes," he seems to write between the lines late in the book, "Without those monks, we still would have had the vast majority of the Western cultural heritage, but that isn't the point." And yet it IS the point if your going to say the Irish SAVED CIVILIZATION! But I guess you can't title a book How the Irish Saved the Roman Heritage and Made It Possible That We Could Read Cicero and Virgil ... but We Still Would Have Had Plato, Aristotle, the Greek Dramatists, Augustine, the Church Fathers, the Bible, and a Whole Mess of Other Stuff.

Oh well, I can still say that I enjoyed reading the book. Particularly refreshing was Cahill's understated but evident respect for Christianity. Indeed, I suspect he is a Catholic, or at least was at one point in his life. This mercifully saves the reader from having to slog through anti-Christian nonsense. Moreover, it means he actually understands Christian theology and can write clearly on the topic--a decided advantage in studying this period--though, in truth, he is woefully simplistic when it comes to heretics like Pelagius and Arius. It seems to me that Cahill's Christianity also provides the underdeveloped but interesting subtext of the book: a comparison of late Roman culture in all its decadence and blindness ot its own weekness to current American culture. Once in a while he provides salient (though perhaps none too original) parallels between the fifth century and our own that we would do well to scrutinize. And it is with this concern that he ends his book. In discussing the differences between the markedly radical, mystical, and borderline-heretical Irish monastics and the institutionally minded Roman church, he gives us this gem to chew on: "The twenty-first century, prophesied Malraux, will be spiritual or it will not be. If our civilization is to be saved--forget about our civiliation, which, as Patrick would say, may pass 'in a moment like a cloud or smoke that is scatterd by the wind'--if we are to be saved, it will not be by Romans but by saints." Here, here.(less)

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Mar 19, 2008 Jen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

This was awful. Many reviews say things like "charming" and "pleasant," but I thought it was tedious and meandering. Not all history has to be chronological; there's interesting stuff in here but it's too long with details of Roman society. Also, the author writes like a blow-hard, and interjects things like "Alas!" and "Dear Reader" and "It is up to the reader to decide." That kind of stuff irritates me to no end.

Searching for info online, I found references that refute much of what the author...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-around-the-world, history, non-fiction, religion, ultimate-reading-list

I do get why this book on "How the Irish Saved Civilization" was a bestseller. Not only is it the perfect gift for St Patrick's Day, it is entertaining and readable. But I also found it superficial and not reliable. It may be the contrast with some really fine histories and biographies I've read lately, but several things in this book made it suspect to me. Cahill isn't a historian. The short biography at the end says only that he has a MFA in "Film and Dramatic Literature" and that he has studi...more I do get why this book on "How the Irish Saved Civilization" was a bestseller. Not only is it the perfect gift for St Patrick's Day, it is entertaining and readable. But I also found it superficial and not reliable. It may be the contrast with some really fine histories and biographies I've read lately, but several things in this book made it suspect to me. Cahill isn't a historian. The short biography at the end says only that he has a MFA in "Film and Dramatic Literature" and that he has studied theology. His pro-Catholic bias is notable throughout. (He even takes gratuitous slams at Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.) I don't claim a writer of a solid history has to be a historian--some of those great histories and biographies recently read were by journalists. And all writers have their take, from conservative to Marxist, that are evident to me. But notably, the good ones, whatever their background or worldview, have pages of sources and notes to back up their claims--this didn't.

But the reason I ended up feeling the book was dubious was the actual content, starting with the title and the very premise: Irish monks saved civilization by preserving classical literature. Other reviewers have pointed out that the Western world isn't the whole of civilization. (Even as Cahill at one point conflates "the whole of the civilized world" with the Roman Empire. What about China, for instance?) And others preserved the old Latin learning. Not just in Europe, the Eastern Roman Empire remained in existence until 1453. Cahill though claims the Irish were more liberal in what they copied than those on the continent. And of the Eastern Romans, he claimed that the "literature of ancient Greece were well enough preserved at Byzantium, but Latin literature would almost certainly surely have been lost without the Irish." I find that hard to credit. They didn't read Vergil at Constantinople?

I think part of why I also find it hard to swallow his encomium to Christianity as a preserver of classical Greek and Roman civilization is that it also did so much to destroy it. One poignant illustration of that is the fate of the works of Sappho. Cahill himself notes that among the treasures of antiquity lost were almost all her poetry. What he doesn't tell you is that her poems were preserved until nearly A.D 1000, at least according to A Book of Woman Poets, "when a wrathful church destroyed whatever it could find. In 1073 her writings were publicly burned in Rome and Constantinople by order of Pope Gregory VIII." So, I guess I wonder, why is it these "great gift-givers" of civilization didn't preserve her for us?

But Cahill doesn't give me a good answer for this, especially because so little of the book even focuses on that part of the story. We don't get to Ireland at all until Part III starting on page 71. The section that tells us how the Irish saved this learning doesn't begin until Part VI on page 145--in a book of 218 pages. Between that we get a biography of St Patrick, who Cahill claimed was "the first human being in the history of the world to speak out unequivocally against slavery." And he'd be wrong by nearly a millennium--look up the "Cyrus Cylinder," called the "first charter of human rights" from the Persian king who ended the Jewish Babylonian exile--a biblical scholar such as Cahill should know better.

Other things irked me. Particularly the comparison of the barbarian "hordes" that destroyed Rome to "the Mexicans, Haitians, and other dispossessed peoples seeking illegal entry" to the United States. It's a point he repeats at the end, and seemed all the more ironic considering Cahill's condemnation of the prejudice their fellow Catholics, the Irish, experienced in America. It's not that there weren't interesting points in the book I'd like to read more about. Such as the case for Augustine's Confessions as the first real autobiography and "story of a soul" and the indomitable Brigid of Kildare, an abbess with the power of a bishop. Cahill might even be right in his take on history--but I didn't find the case presented in his book convincing.(less)

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Dec 06, 2011 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction

The title may be a slight exaggeration, but it's a good read for students of western history. Lots of good Middle Ages as well as the expected Irish background.

Multiple readings pull out a wealth of details and insights.

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May 03, 2011 Mike Barresi rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone with a passion for history, Ireland, literature

Shelves: own, non-fiction

I recently wrote somewhere that Cahill is a great writer of popular history. I didn't really qualify that remark. Cahill doesn't write popular history, he writes about history in a way that the most readers possible, could enjoy. How the Irish Saved Civilization is a perfect example of this. His premise is fairly simple; while the Roman world is collapsing and being taken over by 'barbarians' across the continent, Irish monks, beginning with Saint Patrick, create a new civilization of religion a...more

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May 18, 2008 Felicity rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Felicity by: Mom

Shelves: audiobook, nonfiction, history, library-book

3.5 stars

This is an entertaining and informative book, and the audiobook is winsome and sparkling, courtesy of 'performer' (not credited merely as 'narrator') Donal Donnelly. The personality of the subjects is amply shown by the texts quoted, and the story is interesting and definitely underknown, if not unknown. What really gives me pause is the suffusion of Cahill's own biases in the text. This isn't a scholarly work, but even for a popular history, the degree to which Cahill's opinions and ju...more

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Mar 16, 2008 George Bradford rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ireland

(If you’re curious about the life of St. Patrick, this book contains an excellent account.)

Some books have titles so awesome that the text can’t possibly live up to it. Here is a book whose title does just that. Whether “How the Irish Saved Civilization” lives up to its self-imposed challenge is up to the reader. Lovers of all things Irish will buy it and be filled with pride. Skeptical historians will find errors and omissions to criticize and debunk it.

During Europe’s Middle Ages most of the...more

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Apr 29, 2008 MJ rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: EJ

Recommended to MJ by: The Ultimate reading list

Shelves: history, liked-it, idiots-ultimate-reading

After the fall of Rome Europe descended into the "dark ages" but you already know that right. But did you know that a lot of literature and culture would have been completely lost if it was not for the Irish. Yes that’s right the Irish. They contributed more than just shamrocks and a killer holiday were we get to drink green beer. Ireland was left unbothered while the "barbarians" were descending on the rest of Europe. Allowing the works collected there to be saved and passed on until Europe was...more

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Aug 02, 2008 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sandie by: Sylvia

Shelves: non-fiction

I read this book as background for my trip to Ireland in Sept. It was recommended by a friend. It is very early Irish history, pre-middle ages. The title is accurate, it tells the story of how the Irish monks were busy copying the Greek and Roman books during the Dark Ages of Europe when the pagan illiterate barbarians were sacking libraries and burning books. These barbarians did not quite get to Ireland to do their damage there. It also tells of how Irish monks went forth into Europe in the la...more

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Apr 27, 2008 Brian Hans rated it 3 of 5 stars

I hope I'm not the first to tell you that we have more to thank the Irish for than Saint Patrick's Day. During the dark ages of Europe, the holy men and women of Ireland preserved many of Western civilization's classic texts... and in telling the story of how that came to pass, the author takes us on a determined romp through history illuminated by characters from Irish myth, legend, religion and of course, Saint Patrick himself, who is a bit of all those in one!

It's a quick enough read and pack...more

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Mar 19, 2008 Becca rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fun biography of St. Patrick, and the impact he had, not only on Ireland, but indirectly, upon all European history and the preservation of Christianity through the Dark Ages. Really quite fun. I will warn that the author comes from a more liberal perspective, and has a section towards the end, commenting on issues of morality and sexuality with a perspective that I disagree with. But I thought that his overall portrayal of St. Patrick was warm, insightful, and very enjoyable to read. This aut...more

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Apr 16, 2008 Jon Newswanger rated it 5 of 5 stars

In college I took a class entitled "Christianity in History." It turned out to be merely a church history class.

This book is everything I wished that course had been, but wasn't. It does an amazing job in pointing out how Christians have impacted history, summed up best in it's final sentence:

If our civilization is to be saved -- forget about our civilization, which, as Patrick would say, may pass "in a moment like a cloud or smoke that is scattered by the wind" -- if we are to be saved, it will...more

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Jul 12, 2008 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yeah. They did, really. The idea is that when the goths and visigoths and, hell, pick an army of unwashed savages, sacked civilization in the form Rome and Rome's outposts a long LONG time ago, it fell to monks and holy men in Ireland to transcribe the earliest writing and histories, thereby saving a record of the world to that point. I'll totally buy that based on the scholarship of this book. As for this read, it rambles. Three stars for the scholarship and research that went into its making,...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Jacob Aitken added it

I think Cahill is correct on his arguments, with a few exceptions. His knowledge of late Roman culture appears sound. His assertion that Rome fell from internal decay appears accurate. There are more factors, of course, but this seems to cover the details. His other argument, and main point, that the Irish preserved civilization by copying down manuscripts in monasteries is true for the most part. The Irish, unlike the Britons or the Gauls, did not have to worry about outside invasions. This gav...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Benjamin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ireland, nonfiction, 2010-read, rome, christianity, mythology, monastarey, history, first-edition, edition

I really wanted to like this book, but ultimately I was unimpressed with Cahill's argument that "the Irish saved civilization". He almost gets there, and maybe he would have if he had dedicated a hundred pages or more to this overall short book, but he keeps it brief and spends a lot of his space on making a poor case for how civilization ended. [return]Cahill's argument on Rome's fall is quite short and a little disappointing since he brushes aside a lot of the existing scholarship that has gon...more I really wanted to like this book, but ultimately I was unimpressed with Cahill's argument that "the Irish saved civilization". He almost gets there, and maybe he would have if he had dedicated a hundred pages or more to this overall short book, but he keeps it brief and spends a lot of his space on making a poor case for how civilization ended. [return]Cahill's argument on Rome's fall is quite short and a little disappointing since he brushes aside a lot of the existing scholarship that has gone into this question. He eventually settles on greed and loose morals and then poses that the values of early Christianity pulled the tatters together. [return]Cahill also makes an argument for early Irish peoples having a certain cultural attitude that lends itself to Christian enlightenment. Thus Ireland was a prime place for the remnants of book learned Christian monks to settle and keep the flame alive until they were strong enough to reseed England and the rest of Europe with the Greek/Roman/Christian heritage. [return]The big question left over is exactly what does Cahill mean by "civilization"? If he means a certain Roman Christianity version of Greek enlightenment, then yes, he might have a good argument here. But if he simply means "civilization" as in cities, with trade, philosophy, religion, agriculture, ect. then we have a bit of a problem. Were there any other places that were committed to retaining and preserving knowledge during this time? Why yes, there were. Byzantium was still going strong, as was Baghdad. In fact, the Islamic tradition was also doing basically the same thing as Cahill says the Irish monks were doing, copying and studying Greek and Roman classics. In fact, the Islamic scholars made many advancements in mathematics and medicine during this time. And if we want to extend "civilization" to include the east, then we can't forget China and South Asia too.[return]Overall, I think Cahill's writing style was engaging and he certianly gave me some food for thought. But as "hinge of history" he really should have called his book something like "How the Irish Helped Saved Western Civilization" instead of the sweeping generalization he posits on the book's cover.(less)

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Apr 14, 2013 KJ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thomas Cahill has a wonderful sense of humor that pairs perfectly with the style and the topic of this book. Tackling the transition period between the fall of Rome and the Middle Ages, he expertly gives us a glimpse into the world that fell when Rome fell, Ireland before she takes up the torch as the last scion of Roman thought, carries us through Ireland holding the torch, and then shows us how her sons and daughters helped to preserve and transfer the remnants of the lost civilization to the...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Shaun Wright rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-misc

In honor of the start of March and the impending St. Patrick’s Day, I opted to pick up Tomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. I had actually picked up this long-winded title for a class project a number of years ago, but the demands of the course prevented me from a full read.

Now, I would not recommend reading this book with any academic intent. His treatment of the complexity fall of Rome...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Ralph Orr rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Fascinating discussion of the sudden transformation of the Irish people from barbaric rural violent illiterate pagans who lived without cities or literature to the preserver of Roman learning, copious copiers of texts, renouncers of slavery and evangelists for the Prince of Peace, all within decades of the arrival of Patrick. My only beef with the book is its pretentious title: the Irish did not save civilization per se, but preserved much literature of a particular civilization (pagan and other...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I understand why some readers have given this book a low score since Cahill has created an alluring title to garner interest from those not normally inclined to reading historical non-fiction. This is not a book filled with action, battles, and Irish war heros saving "civilization" (although St. Patrick comes out as being a pretty awesome guy). Instead it is a nicely written chronology of the years following the Fall of Rome and Europe's descent into the Dark Ages. Medieval enthusiasts should fi...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Cheezstk rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012

I have some mixed feelings about this book. First, I'd like to state that I Am Not an Historian. I am not an expert in the content or an academic of any kind, and I may be talking entirely out of my posterior. However, it's my understanding that any historian, or any human, has their own point of view. When studying history, you may try to be as objective about the past, but even the most bland reciting of facts is going to be colored by the author's background, opinions, beliefs, etc.

What made...more I have some mixed feelings about this book. First, I'd like to state that I Am Not an Historian. I am not an expert in the content or an academic of any kind, and I may be talking entirely out of my posterior. However, it's my understanding that any historian, or any human, has their own point of view. When studying history, you may try to be as objective about the past, but even the most bland reciting of facts is going to be colored by the author's background, opinions, beliefs, etc.

What made me feel a little uneasy about this book is that Cahill seems to have a very traditional, even old-fashioned point of view. It feels like it's taken as a given that Western Civilization is the pinnacle of human achievement. Germanic tribes are referred to unabashedly as "barbarians." He gushes over classic Greco-Roman literature (unarguably impressive, but...) and there is a sense that they, and subsequent Christian writings, are simply the most important things ever created. (There are some nods to being a bit more PC. There's some interesting content about women, for example.) The crux of the book is that Irish monks, by quietly copying manuscripts in an otherwise tumultuous era, rescued classic writings for history. However, the attitude taken towards this is odd. It's as if the author's saying, "You assumed the Irish were backwards barbarians, didn't you? Ha! They single handedly rescued the bright light of Western Thought (which of course will inspire the world to achieve advanced Western Christian values). Who's the barbarian now?" The basic assumption is of the superiority of Civilization over Barbarians, and that of course the reader would assume (Incorrectly. What a twist!) barbarity from the Irish, left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

Another issue was that the book felt padded. It seemed that there was a good essay's worth of information on the preservation of books in Irish monasteries. The background on Rome and some other content felt somewhat like filler.

All that said, it's a quick, fairly entertaining read. I honestly appreciate and enjoy attempts to popularize history and help make it accessible to the general public. Also, I learned some interesting things about the past that I did not know and my interest was piqued about learning more. Which is the ultimate point of picking up any history book. (less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Mark Gilroy rated it 5 of 5 stars

In 406 A.D the Rhine River froze solid - and the barbarians crossed this temporary bridge to strike one of the final blows to a lazy, corrupt, and aging empire. When Alaric, king of the Visigoths, showed up at Rome's gates in 410 A.D., the citizens still didn't know the end was at hand. Unable to defend themselves - it was a lot of effort after all - they negotiated a "sack" to spare the city from bloodshed:

"So they kept their lives, most of them. But sooner or later they or their progeny lost a...more In 406 A.D the Rhine River froze solid - and the barbarians crossed this temporary bridge to strike one of the final blows to a lazy, corrupt, and aging empire. When Alaric, king of the Visigoths, showed up at Rome's gates in 410 A.D., the citizens still didn't know the end was at hand. Unable to defend themselves - it was a lot of effort after all - they negotiated a "sack" to spare the city from bloodshed:

"So they kept their lives, most of them. But sooner or later they or their progeny lost almost everything else: titles, prosperity, way of life, learning: especially learning. A world in chaos is not a world in which books are copied and libraries are maintained. It is not the world where learned men have the leisure to become more learned."

While working through Gibbons' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire for my nightstand reading, I realized I needed a shorter "boost" to keep going, so I decided to reread Thomas Cahill's much heralded work that shows the disappearance of learning, scholarship, and culture from the European Continent from the fall of Rome to rise of Charlemagne. All the great works of western civilization would have been lost were it not for the fact that as the Continent became illiterate, one small "unconquered people" at the edge of the Empire were just learning to read and write with gusto. As peaceful Rome turned to chaos, chaotic Ireland grew more peaceful - the key word being more. Following the lead of their eclectic and spiritually patron saint, St. Patrick, and his spiritual son, Columcille, they built centers of learning that not only drew visitors from the Continent, but sent a wave of missionaries that restored and returned the Greek, Roman, Christian and even "pagan" literature to Europe.

Just a fun note or two on Patrick. He was not actually Irish. He was a Briton - "almost Roman" - that was captured, enslaved and brutally mistreated by the Irish as a young boy. Following a vision from God - like King David he was a shepherd and solitude and deprivation turned his thoughts toward God - he escaped Ireland and received a seminary education. But his heart beat for Ireland. In one of history's unique footnotes, he became the first missionary since the Apostolic Age. Also, he didn't drive snakes out of Ireland, but he did curb the Irish passion for violence - curbing the passions of that day for hard drink and, um, ah, for a liberated sense of sexuality, is another matter. One of the reasons Patricus was so well received by his one-time tormentors was that he may have been the only man to stand up to the Irish of his century and say, "I am not afraid of you, I fear only God." That they liked and respected.

I'm only one in a long line of many to recommend Cahill's short, poetic, sometimes rambling, but always charming narrative that brings history to life.(less)

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Jun 21, 2012 Elderberrywine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

I am very much enjoying this series by Cahill - the second one is on its way to me now. Cahill's premise is that most histories are written as a series of wars and catastrophes, but he would rather look for:
the narratives of grace, the recountings of those blessed and inexplicable moments when someone did something for someone else, saved a life, bestowed a gift, gave something beyond what was required by circumstance.

These are what he calls the "hinges of history" and this book, the first of th...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Dennis Maley rated it 5 of 5 stars

I bought this off of a seasonal table at Barnes & Noble a few years ago. I self-identify as Irish and it was March and all... listen, I've never bought green beer and have no desire to drink it, but to be honest, I was probably humming "Tura Lura Lura" to myself when I picked this book up. My expectations were low.

I got a pleasant surprise. It's one of my all-time favorites. Cahill unfolds a rich history of the Celts, their wild character, and how a runaway slave boy returned to Ireland and...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars

Would give it 4.5. This book for my Univ of Utah book club, so they get more cerebral. As Rome went from peace (learning, properity) to chaos (invasion by barbarians that burned libraries), St. Patrick was converting Ireland to Christianity and bringing it from chaos (ignorance, war, slave trade)to peace (learning, prosperity). Instead of the Irish being red martyrs (killed for their faith like the first Christians), they became green martyrs (countryside monastaries where men and women welcomed...more

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Feb 14, 2012 David A. rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm Irish. Don't let my last name (Zimmerman) fool you. I'm the proud son of a guy whose surname unfortunately obscures the fact that my mother (of whom I'm also a proud son) is 100 percent Irish, so assuming my dad has a little Irish in him (who doesn't?) I'm at least 50 percent.

Not sure why that's so important to me, but it is. There's a mystique to Irishness that simply isn't there with other countries of distant origins. Ireland is ever green, it's charmed and charming, thick with thin spac...more I'm Irish. Don't let my last name (Zimmerman) fool you. I'm the proud son of a guy whose surname unfortunately obscures the fact that my mother (of whom I'm also a proud son) is 100 percent Irish, so assuming my dad has a little Irish in him (who doesn't?) I'm at least 50 percent.

Not sure why that's so important to me, but it is. There's a mystique to Irishness that simply isn't there with other countries of distant origins. Ireland is ever green, it's charmed and charming, thick with thin space. So you would think that by now I would have made my pilgrimage there. But I haven't; Ireland remains a place of fanciful imagination for me. You would also think that by now a proud wannabe Irishman would have read the 1995 national bestseller How the Irish Saved Civilization, but again you would be wrong. It's been on my shelf for at least fifteen years, waiting for me to finally crack the spine and dig into it. I'm not sure what kept me otherwise occupied; it might be that my copy has a very distracting manufacturing error on the cover (the spot gloss over the title is offset by about an inch, or it might be that I have so much time-sensitive reading to do that I just left this one slow-cooking on the back burner, or it may be that I know that calling myself Irish is absurd and vaguely insulting to people who actually are from Ireland, so I felt guilty and avoided the uncomfortable feeling. Whatever: 2012 is the Year of Overdue Books, so I swallowed my pride and indulged my self-perception and dug in.

How the Irish Saved Civilization is popular history at its apex. Part of a series of audacious arguments from Thomas Cahill ("The Hinges of History"), this one observes that the fall of the Roman Empire, and the corresponding neglect of the archives of Western Civilization, was paralleled by the Christianization of Ireland, whose nascent monks saw their calling as twofold: with no real opportunity to experience the "Red Martyrdom" of persecution unto death for their faith, the Irish took first to "Green Martyrdom," or the cloistered life of studying the Scriptures and the works of the early church. The prodigality of the Irish mind (from p. 131: "In Patrick's world all beings and events come from the hand of a good God, who loves human beings and wishes them success. And though that success is of an ultimate kind--and, therefore, does not preclude suffering--all nature, indeed the whole of the created universe, conspires to mankind's good, teaching, succoring, and saving") was such that enthusiasm for these early works extended to pagan classics and other ancient culture. Irish monks became archivists for the ancient West at a time when Roman civilization could no longer be bothered by its own history, its own legacy.

Simply archiving history wouldn't save civilization, of course. And the Irish historically were not known for sitting around all day. Irish folk history, told compellingly by Cahill, is lusty and brazen, sometimes violent and always earthy, painting a portrait of a culture consumed with life. Such virility informs monasticism in unique ways, and the Green Martyrs eventually created an outlet for Irish wanderlust with "White Martyrdom," self-surrender that involved taking to sea and going where the waves took you. White Martyrs went everywhere--some undoubtedly to their death--and some of them wound up in Europe, where they reintroduced Europe's classics to itself. Not only Western civilization's culture was restored but a culture of being cultured was introduced: the love of learning and the life of the mind, and ethical responsibility that flows from it, can be traced back to the missionary efforts of these White Martyrs.

Thomas Cahill made me want to be more Irish, not less. His writing is elegant and exhilarating; you assume the truth of his absurdist claim--that a tiny island in the North Atlantic known mostly for famine, fantasy and fatalism gave Western civilization its life and soul back. I'm struck by the lessons from Cahill's take on European history for people today invested in the mission of the church. There are plenty of parallels between late antiquity and the modern day, from the comparable dominance and moral vulnerability of ancient Rome and the contemporary United States to the increasing cultural irrelevance of the Christian church. Cahill does a great job of noting the different worldviews of the two great Confessors of the era--Bishop Augustine of Hippo and Patrick of Ireland--one who developed an intricate and complex theology that over time proved oppressive and confining, the other whose theology was informed by and responsive to the people who surrounded it. Patrick's Christianity, focused as it is on God's good desire for his creation, is more welcoming than Augustine's, which emphasized the fall from grace and led to an emphasis on human depravity and eternal conscious punishment. If the church wants to "win some," it could stand to learn from Patrick's winsome approach. From the last paragraph of Cahill's book:

"Perhaps history is divided into Romans and Catholics--or, better, catholics. The Romans are the rich and powerful who run things their way and must always accrue more because they instinctively believe that there will never be enough to go around; the catholics, as their name implies, . . . instinctively believe that all humanity makes one family, that every human being is an equal child of God, and that God will provide. . . . If our civilization is to be saved--forget about our civilization, which, as Patrick would say, may pass 'in a moment like a cloud or smoke that is scattered by the wind'--if we are to be saved, it will not be by Romans but by saints."(less)

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About Thomas Cahill

Born in New York City to Irish-American parents and raised in Queens and the Bronx, Cahill was educated by Jesuits and studied ancient Greek and Latin. He continued his study of Greek and Latin literature, as well as medieval philosophy, scripture and theology, at Fordham University, where he completed a B.A. in classical literature and philosophy in 1964, and a pontifical degree in philosophy in...more

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Books by Thomas Cahill

The Gifts Of The Jews (Hinges of History, #2)

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science & Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter

Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before & After Jesus

A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green

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“The Irish innovation was to make all confession a completely private affair between penitent and priest - and to make it as repeatable as necessary. (In fact, repetition was encouraged on the theory that, oh well, everyone pretty much sinned just about all the time.)” — 3 people liked it

“In becoming an Irishman, Patrick wedded his world to theirs, his faith to their life…Patrick found a way of swimming down to the depths of the Irish psyche and warming and transforming Irish imagination – making it more humane and more noble while keeping it Irish.” (161)” — 2 people liked it

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How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History #1)

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