(usually barefoot) meg

If pressed to name the greatest contribution that the Irish have made to civilization, I suspect that Guinness, a beer first brewed in 1755 in the heart of Dublin by Arthur Guinness, might be the first thing to pop into many people's minds. Others might mention the Book of Kells, or perhaps more recent books by authors such as George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney. Anyone that brought up potatoes or corned beef, however, might be surprised to learn that potatoes are native to the Americas and corned beef became an Irish-American staple after immigrant Irish learned of the meat from their Jewish neighbors in New York City. But Thomas Cahill believes that the greatest contribution of the Irish, a hinge or turning point upon which all of civilization has swung, was the preservation of a wide range of Latin texts which might otherwise have been entirely lost when Rome fell, and upon which the Renaissance was founded. He explains how the Irish came to play such a pivotal role in history in his book How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe.

To help the reader first understand exactly what otherwise might have been lost, Cahill devotes a couple of chapters to the fall of the Roman Empire and the traditions and culture that fell with it. His description of how the empire crumbled is brilliant in that it not only explains what happened then, but he compares it to present day phenomena that help the reader connect more viscerally with historic events. And throughout his description of the Romans are comparisons between them and the Celts of the same time period. But Ireland is the one place where the Celts were never subsumed into a larger, invading people group, and it's to these Celts in particular that he turns next.

The Irish were a bit of a wild bunch back in the days of the Roman Empire. (In fact, many would argue that they still are today. Cahill states that Freud once “muttered in exasperation that the Irish were the only people who could not be helped by psychoanalysis....”) Fierce in battle, the Irish were also ruthless in slave taking. Little did they realize that it was one of those slaves they had captured, a teenager by the name of Patricius (Saint Patrick), who would begin the movement of the hinge upon which all of Europe would turn. Though Cahill spills the beans in the very first page of the introduction, explaining just what it was that the Irish did to save civilization, it's the details of the story, which Cahill spends the rest of the book explaining, that make this such a rich and fascinating read.

Juicy tidbits such as the possible origins of the faeries, the tale of the world's first copyright case, and delightful quotes both by and about the Irish, add a delicious flavor to the story that Cahill tells. The nature and culture of the Irish is brought to life through histories, poems, and comparisons with their contemporaries. It wasn't just Patrick who pushed the hinge upon which the world turned, but the blending of the Irish culture with the religion that Patrick brought with him, as well as the Irish love of stories and learning. Though the Vikings first and the English later would make mince meat of Irish culture, pre-Viking Ireland enjoyed a hay day of growth, learning, and influence.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it not only to those with Irish blood, but to all who enjoy a good story that weaves together what might at first appear to be a disparate set of facts in order to create one cohesive and compelling history.