I've heard a lot about Thomas Cahill and his story of the Irish Monks. I've read articles he's written but not one of his books. This book happened to call to me recently from the shelves of a used bookstore. So here it goes onto the bookshelf. I hope I'll get around to it before too long.

I picked this up a little over seven years ago when I was hoarding books out of psychological frustration, because I did not have enough time to read. Finally, I have enjoyed this immensely! Cahill, an Irish American from up North, the former director of religious publishing for Doubleday, discovered this story while researching another book in Ireland. He and his wife Susan, both scholarly book hounds, were compiling a literary guide to Ireland when this book came together in his mind in 1971. So the book had a considerable gestation up to its publication in 1995. Cahill depicts the great "unblemished" moment of the Irish when, after their conversion to Christianity by the former captured slave Patrick, a son of the declining Roman Empire, their scribes of new monastic orders saved the canon of Classical literature from destruction. HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION is unfailingly entertaining and fascinating; Cahill's fluent scholarship and wit make the book a wonderful read. It was conceived as the first in his "Hinges of History" series of books. I hope to read the others now! The next in the series is THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS. I believe Cahill has one more book in this series in the works.

Like Cahill and my friend readinghelps, I have Irish ancestry. My Irish foremother joined the tribe of the American South back in the 19th Century. Flannery O'Connor, the great Georgia writer mentioned here, is also a Southerner with significant Irish ancestry.

Just received this with five other books. Thank you Cordelia-Anne! I've been wanting to read this since a good friend of mine (also Irish descent) told me about it many years ago. Have already started.

I'm already more than two-thirds of the way through this amazing book. It is really a well-researched, well-written, fascinating and entertaining church history from the fall of Rome to the Middle Ages. It follows the stories of Saint Augustine, Paul, and of course Saint Patrick among many others. There are many references to other ancient and modern works, which I am now interested in reading.

I finally finished this book and now my wife is reading it and loves it too. A few friends have expressed interest in it too, so we'll see where it ends up.

It is in the hands of another young history enthusiast.

This has found its way back to me again after nearly a year. During that year so much has changed in Ireland itself. Irish Journalist John Waters referred to this book in an article he wrote for First Things, called Ireland: an Obituary . Here's an excerpt:

In his book How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill writes that “the Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great labor of copying all of western literature,” thus becoming the “conduits through which the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe, newly settled amid the rubble and ruined vineyards of the civilisation they had overwhelmed.” He praises the monks “who single-handedly re-founded European civilisation.”

And in another recent article by Rod Dreher:

Ireland, you are rich in Christian tradition! The contemporary Catholic institution has failed you all terribly — but it is not the whole of the Church! Many Catholics there have fallen away, and will yet fall away. This is what it means to be under judgment. But those who remain will hold on because they will have gone very deep into the Celtic Christian past, and recovered the deep spirituality that their ancestors stored up for them.

I do hope and pray that Ireland does not completely lose its rich heritage of vibrant faith, but at the moment it seems to be going that way.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this book next, but it's currently available if anyone is interested.

Right now, I'm reading Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee

This little guy is on the road again. A friend expressed interest in reading it (Yes, I talk about this book a lot).