Rating: 
Summary: It Should Have Been Better
Review: Although I respected this book, I expected a lot more substance, both
in concrete facts and logic. I am Irish and long familiar with the
argument that Irish monks were the virtual guardians of civilization for so many centuries. I looked for this book
to provide the foundation evidence and argument for the assertion. In fact, the author seemed to set out with that objective and,
failing to find the supporting evidence, wrote the book anyway and just
avoided the central premise. Not entirely uninteresting but
ultimately unsatisfying.
Rating:
Summary: A reasonable intro to Irelands role in educating Europe.
Review: Overall I liked this book. Cahill uses a lot of quotes to
explain how the potential loss of literacy due to the collapse
of Roman 'civilization' (my quotes) was offset by the rise in
Irish monastic settlements and the sudden adoption of more
Christian practises within Ireland.
He makes this a readable book, but I think it's a little thin
on supporting evidence. However, not being a historian and being
Irish, I was happy to accept this modernized portayal of a
particular time in Irish and European history. It certainly
made me more interested in the general era.
Rating: 
Summary: Quaint but historically uninteresting
Review: There is lots of good historical evidence, circumstantial
and factual that leads one to believe that Ireland played a crucial role in the development of Western Christian Europe.
Unfortunately, none of that can be found in this book. I thought the book wandered and was filled with too many interesting
but inconclusive stories. The information on St. Patrick was
probably the most effective part of the book, but the title was
not "A Biography of St. Patrick."
I felt that it wouldn't have been too hard for the author to
dig a bit deeper into historical fact to give us something that
we could sink our teeth in.
Jeb Bolding
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I'm 18 years old and many people wouldn't expect someone my age to read something like this. But this is one of the best and even entertaining books that i have ever read. This book offers historial facts with out making it seem boring and long winded as some others can potray history. I read it from cover to cover, when i usually look for only parts that interest me. The author Thomas Cahill bring his personality into the passages so it seems more of a discussion rather than a one sided lecture. Cahill also brings hummor into it and makes the concepts understandable while bringing the big picture along for support. It seem that Cahill has done an amazing about of research for this book and personally i think that's amazing while considering its an enjoyable book. The suject of this book is so interesting and its a new way to this about the Irish culture. I can't begin to tell you how much i live this book! Its worth the money a thousand times over!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging but superficial....
Review: I enjoyed Cahill's book very much, but had (still have!) a nagging sensation that this is history lite. Not that that's a bad thing -- good, readable popular histories are all too rare -- but I get the feeling that Cahill skipped over some important historical developments in order to support his thesis. We are told that Irish missionary bishops and monks treasured --and ultimately, reintroduced -- Greek and Roman classics to Western Europe. This is fine as far as it goes, but there's a gaping hole in the heart of this thesis -- southern Spain, ruled by Muslims, home of great Muslim and Jewish philosphers (who incorporated much neo-Platonic thought in their respective brands of philosphy and mysticism). I highly doubt that any of this came about as a result of itinerant Irish monks! Another reviewer mentioned Charles Martel, as follows: "During the 6th and 7th Centuries, the Irish built monasteries throughout continental Europe, propogating their love of learning and books. According to Cahill, if not for the philosophical substance that the Irish brought to Europe, the Arab/Muslims would have swallowed Europe (I'm not so sure, it was Charles Martel who stopped the Muslims in 711, grandpappy of Charles the Great, and he was the Merovingian who enthusiastically brought the Irish to France)." The truth of the matter is that Charles Martel's efforts in driving Andalusian Muslims back into the Iberian Pensinsula was -- and still is -- a VERY big deal. I learned about this in grade school and don't understand why this topic is ignored by US-based school systems.... It was a true turning point in Western Euopean history. (My intention isn't to be disrespectful toward Muslims -- rather, it's to highlight the clash of cultures that affects all of us right up to the present.) I'm no expert on medieval history by a long shot, but I'd like to suggest that interested readers do a bit of poking around in order to get a more detailed understanding of the inappropriately-named Dark Ages. Cahill's right about literacy rates and more, but he skips many historical/cultural developments that were taking place in the latter part of the "Dark Ages." The why of it is a mystery to me.... So enjoy the book, but keep a sharp lookout for material that covers the period more thoroughly... One last thought: endnotes or footnotes would have been nice, though I suspect Cahill's publisher wasn't willing to pay for them. More's the pity!
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: As discussed in previous reviews, 'How the Irish Saved Civilization' by Cahill is not a history book, it is a historical essay. That does not mean it is fundamentally flawed, there is quite a rich genre in historical essays and speculative opinions on past historical events have their place. It is also true that the main subject matter, St. Patrick, and the history of the 4th through the 8th centuries in Ireland, are poorly documented so any essay on that period is going to be speculative. We just do not have a lot of written material (from the period in question) to work with on the subjects of how St. Patrick helped bring changes to Ireland, how the monastic orders arose in Ireland, and their role in protecting and later re-introducing Latin texts to Europe. Also to be fair, the author does mention the role of the jews in europe and the eastern roman empire in protecting and saving latin and greek works and texts. However, in my opinion this book garners only two stars for two reasons. First, the style is full of overgeneralizations and hyperbole; too much for my liking. For example the comparison of the Germanic tribes flowing into Gaul across the Rhine to the current immigration occuring across the Mexico/US border seems a bit specious. There are a number of comments like the following about the rapidity of Columcille's conversion of the Picts and Scots: "(There wasn't after all, much going on up that way)". These kinds of statements hurt the credibility of the text, or maybe I am showing my age. Secondly this essay fails the key test to any historical essay which is whether the reader has gained a nice roadmap for further inquiry into the subject matter. For folks who have never heard of the Tain, or Patrick's 'Breastplate' then this does have some value, but overall, even with the Bibliographical sources presented at the end of the book its a very weak roadmap. An example of what I consider to be a very good historical essay recently would be Kaplan's 'Mediterranean Winter'. That has a tight narrative woven around documented histories, combined with a nice spread of material on art, geography, and politics, and leaves most readers with a thirst to find out more about the subject matter. This one by Cahill, however, didn't leave me with much.
Rating:
Summary: Heir of Ausonius
Review: On the positive side, I will say that this book was interesting and provides a useful historical overview of late antiquity and the early middle ages. It provides some helpful insights on historical personalities of the era and shows once again, that each era is as complex as our own, at least in terms of human interaction and motivation.
Western Religion is a central theme of the book, but I can't help feeling that the author has a pretty feeble grasp on the spiritual aspects of Christianity. In fact, I suspect that he feels that the whole faith thing is nothing more than a particularly potent opiate for the masses. This is utterly predicatible for a secular historian. As any modern academic figure would, Cahill focuses on the hypocrisy and political nature of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Irish Church, the book's protagonist, is better than the older church primarily in the ways in which it diverges from the oppressive structure and moral code of the Rome. Specifically, the Celtic Christians are superior because they allow women to serve as clergy and because they have a looser sexual moral code. If you think I am exagerrating then you merely have to read page 178 where Cahill states,
"How different might Catholicism be today if it had taken over the easy Irish attitudes toward diveristy, authority, the role of women, and the relative unimportance of sexual mores." On the same page he goes on to relay a story in which female saint removes (can we say aborts) the unborn baby of a nun and another where the Virgin Mary covers for the absence of a wanton nun.
Right. Those enlighted Irish monks sound like they would be right at home at the Oscars or maybe in Cahill's faculty lounge.
These are not isolated incidences. The entire book is chock full of sexual references. I am sure that does not hurt sales any and it surely makes lectures more interesting for teenage college students, but it does seem that sex is one of the main themes of the book.
While the book does inform, Cahill doesn't say anything that would rock the modern, liberal academic boat. I think that he could have spent less time smashing the RC's (of whom I am not a member, BTW) and more time discussing the implications of the Celtic version of Christianity for our age. For example, the thought occurs to me that the Celtic Catholics may have actually planted the seeds of the Protestant Reformation with their less authoritarian and more personal brand of faith. But thoughts like that might illumine the Church in a positive light and our modern day Ausonius probably would not want to risk the wrath of his liberal collegues with such a unprecedented tactic.
Rating:
Summary: Very good argument
Review: One thing that can be said about this book is that it seems to cover new ground. I don't know of any other book that deals with the role of Irish monks in maintaining the written works of the Greeks and Romans during a time when the rest of Europe was uneducated and plagued with war, ready to let those written works disappear. Cahill does a good job of describing the lives of the most important Irish people during that time and in describing how Ireland became an educated country while the rest of Europe became more uneducated. And the author also does a good job of describing the Irish personality and how it has and also has not changed - and he does it in a way to make you proud to be Irish.
Although Cahill describes the importance of the Irish monks well, he could have gone more into depth. I feel that he only used enough of the history as was necessary to make his argument, instead of giving a really comprehensive analysis of that time. Hopefully someone can pick up where he left off and provide much more detail of that historical period. Also, the poems from classic Greece and Rome that the Irish monks saved, as well as the poems written by the Irish monks themselves, that are included in the book are interesting but I think the author overdoes it and uses too many.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick and at times beautiful look at How the Irish Saved Civilization. It is important not just to people with an Irish heritage, but to all who want to think about how civilization's written words can be saved through hostile times and the importance of education and literacy.
Rating:
Summary: Save Civilization; A Very Interesting Book
Review: I read this book a little while back, and it was interesting and informative. I can't really think of any qualms about this volume, and feel that it is a good read but not necessarily the most comprehensive volume on the subject. So if you want to start learning about Irish Civilization (or how they saved civilization), this is one of several good starting places. Anyway, best of reading to you, and enjoy every moment of it.
Rating:
Summary: Putting the "Story" back in "History"
Review: History is the story of the world, people, civilizations, and cultures. It is an intricate, complex, and beautiful epic, but it often fails to appear this way. History has become a generally dull series of dates, names, and facts to memorize and promptly forget. It is a rarity anymore for any work to make historical information interesting or memorable. Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization, however, is a gem of a book that tells the story, not just the facts, about the rise of Christianity and literacy in Ireland after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Once upon a time, there were the greatest of the ancient civilizations, Rome and Greece. Each had its own set of great writers, thinkers, and philosophers, and each had a strong since of order. Told through exploring the lives of a series of important characters, the story begins here when an intellectual young man in search of meaning, Augustine, finds startling similarities between the writings of the revered Greek Plato and the "crazy" Christian named Paul. After a nervous breakdown, Augustine becomes a devoted Christian and eventually causes Christianity to become the religion of the entire Roman Empire.
Later, after the Roman Empire falls to disorder and eventually the Dark Ages, another young Roman comes onto the scene. A slave trade develops between the barbarians outside of the formerly roman territories. The Roman, Patricius, is kidnapped from his family and sold into slavery in the land that will become Ireland. Patricius, later known as Saint Patrick, survived the abuse and hunger of his captivity by praying during every moment of the day. His religious fervor pays off as he hears a voice one night telling him that it is time for him to go home. Patrick makes it back to his family, but his work is not yet done. He is far behind his peers in Latin education and he feels compelled to go back to Ireland and bring the word of God to the unruly Irish. Saint Patrick not only brought Christianity to Ireland, he also brought relative peace and literacy.
Since Patrick was able to convert Ireland to Christianity in a gentle, bloodless way, the Irish lacked martyrs and this saddened the people, who were fond of tale tales and battle. Thus, a new form of martyr was born. The Green Martyrs were people who moved out into the forests and uninhabited areas of Ireland to study, read, and copy Roman and Greek literature, as well as writing down the stories passed down orally among the Irish people.
Patrick's successors would become another type of martyr, the White Martyrs, people banished from Ireland who left the island for the European continent where they became founders of numerous monasteries in the future territories of France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. These monasteries would become the safe houses for the books that otherwise would have been lost as Europe was in transition from the order of the Roman Empire to the Dark Ages.
Cahill tells the story of these men who saved the fountain of knowledge and literature from the Roman Empire in a compelling and insightful voice that makes history a story instead of a chore. The tale that Cahill tells is unique and interesting and brings light to a portion of the past that is rarely spoken of, even in a dull manner.
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