How The Irish Saved Civilization: Written by a Jesuit 'historian' (he has a bibliography... practically all his sources are by Jesuits...) about how Irish Christianity helped keep alive the Classical tradition in the period laymen still refer to as the 'dark ages'. The thesis is historically dubious in itself (though admittely isn't totally without merit), indeed it repeats practically all the long debunked myths about Irish history in that period (which is basicallly all Irish history in that period). But hum-ho, what makes it really stupid is his bizarre tendency to use events from the 5th Century to underline moral points about today. The logic goes... The Huns were migrants to Western Europe, they destroyed 'Roman Civilization' therefore illegal immigration is bad (Were the Huns illegal?). While this is a common trick of pop history, it doesn't mean it isn't offensive and moronic rubbish especially considering that this is actually a big selling book which is where alot of people learn about early Irish history. I'm surprised by the amount of people who have read it.
I liked that book!
I think part of the reason it was so popular in the US was because so many people have Irish ancestry.
I can't stand it when people bash
The DaVinci Code because they wrongly think it makes them look edgy and sophisticated. I'm pretty sure it was the biggest selling fiction book of the past decade and I loved it myself. It had a great mix of history and suspense, I learned so much from it.
