Issue date: 10/25/02 Section: Entertainment

My mother had been telling me to read this book for months. The fact that the books she usually recommends have titles like Dating for Young People with God's Help was one very strong reason I resisted her suggestion. Eventually, I gave in and decided to read it, if only to placate the woman that bores me. Wow. A mild comparison might be to flipping around on late night cable and suddenly finding this really cool show on the History Channel and staying up till 4:00 in the morning. It was engrossing, to say the least.

The Irish people have been shat upon and ignored for too long--that is the basic premise that this book begins with. Thomas Cahill begins with an examination of this injustice, comparing it to what has been done to many other colonized peoples over the course of history. The role in history was marginalized and written by people who saw the Irish as "human chimpanzees." Cahill then goes into an examination of the Roman Empire, what it stood for, and how and why it fell. This is a necessary step he needs to prove the statement made in the title.

This book though, is anything but dry textbook writing. Cahill constantly gives the reader visual imagery with a lively writing style that shows not only his great passion for the topic, but his ability to draw the reader into this passion. Details as minute as the way the Romans cut carrots for aesthetic beauty, "to achieve slender, elongated triangles," are used to lead to greater points. These small details give Cahill's work a layered quality that is quite effective. By weaving his knowledge and references to other historians with a storytelling style that gives ancient figures of history vibrant, human personality, Cahill masterfully walks the tightrope of making history accessible without dumbing it down.

One of the most interesting parts of this book was the description and analysis of Irish folk tales. Women are given a remarkable fullness of character, as well as being more empowered and brash than anything I have ever read in mainland European folk tales. Sexual frankness too is more obvious in Irish tales then even the tales of Homer. In one such story the hero is speaking with a girl he is wooing and, when looking down her dress says, "I see a sweet country. I could rest my weapon here." The girl responds not demurely, but with equal brashness, telling all the things he must accomplish before being allowed to do that very thing.

The crux of the book, though, is the Irish peoples' unique conversion to Christianity, and their subsequent desire for knowledge. Their scribes were responsible for the initial salvaging of most of the text from the Roman Empire, hence the title of the book. Very interesting is the fact that Ireland was "the only land into which Christianity was introduced without bloodshed." Instead, it was the missionary Patrick who brought Christianity to Ireland. He came with little or no support from his homeland. Cahill does an especially effective job here with his descriptions of the life of St. Patrick.

Even if you disagree with Cahill on his conclusions, How the Irish Saved Civilization is a necessary read for anyone with an interest in the origins of our own culture and the way a religion is shaped by the people who adopt it. It raises many important questions and does so quite intelligently. Don't go into it looking for a fluff read, but don't be too scared to try some nonfiction, even if it isn't for a class.

Suggested retail price for this paperback: $12.95

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