Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Don't get me wrong- this is a very entertaining book. If you've ever hung out in a bar and met one of those droll sons of the Esmerald Isle spinning a hilarious tale or two after a wee bit of the ol' poteen just imagine a whole book of such tales purporting to show how the Irish saved Europe's bacon. No pesky historical FACTS get in the way of a single-minded Irish Catholic view of the past. Reading this reminded me of the Cold war Soviets who claimed the Russians invented everything or the Greek dad in the recent popular movie who thought every word had Greek roots and the Greeeks were best at everything. And the Greeks is where this book's theory comes CRASHING down because of...BYZANTIUM!...in this work described as "a small defensible state"!!! The fact is the the Byzantine Empire continued the Roman Empire for centuries after the "fall" of the western Roman empire and all of the supposedly lost civilization of Rome was there all along in a huge area of eastern and southern Europe. This is mentioned on ONE! page in the book. In fact the so-called Dark Ages were really never as dark or uncivilised as they popularly thought to be. The West is Better prejudices of our time come through clearly- its as if Eastern and Central Europe didn't exist. I think the Germans would be surprised to find out that it isn't Romanesque architecture and art from German towns that count but Irish inspired manuscripts. A topsy-turvy view of the world and history is displayed here- the classic Romans and Greeks are "pessimistic and dark" whereas the newly christianised Irish are humanistic and freedom-loving! We have here a great example of a new kind of popular history where entertainment and prejudice mix to prove whatever you want. If you're Irish and Catholic you'll love this book- everybody else bring your grain of salt!