How The Irish Saved Civilization -- Thomas Cahill: A Book Review

How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

Thomas Cahill

Doubleday, 1995

There is a period of time, a transitional phase, in history that is neglected by historians for the most part, generally because it is bracketed by two historical events of ponderous importance -- the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages.  A few historians have touched upon this period, and a couple have even gone so far as to give credit, but none have taken the burden upon themselves to write an extended piece on it.  Until Thomas Cahill, that is.

How The Irish Saved Civilization is an amazing work, a history that begins with the fall of an empire that stood 11 long centuries, was the pinnacle of human society at the time, and would almost completely vanish before its 12th century of existence was realized.  Cahill then examines the pagan Irish at the time, part of the Celts that dominated so much of western Europe.  He tells us about the monks, the scribes, the once illiterate Irish who couldn't get enough of books, ironically at the time when barbarians were burning and destroying all the great libraries of Europe.  He tells us how they copied them, ancient, old, and not so old, even the myths (although this caused some consternation among the more pious).  He tells us how civilization was reseeded throughout Europe by Irish monks.

And, simply put, this is how the Irish saved civilization.

What is great about this book is that the story, from the fall of empire to the missionary work of the Irish monks, is told through the eyes of the individuals who lived during this transitional time:  Ausonius, the Roman; Augustine of Hippo; Patricius, who would become St. Patrick; Columcille, the missionary.  These men were not only men of letters, but men who reflected the times in which they lived, for the most part unknowing of the immense historical impact they would have for the future. 

A great work, Cahill shows his Irish roots by throwing in some amusing tidbits in an otherwise serious effort.  And he couldn't withstand the Irish need to embellish such a great claim of How The Irish Saved Civilization with just a we bit of a descriptive subtitle:  The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of the Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe.  But it is a tale worth telling, albeit for no other reason than it is true.