Celtic History??

[Bugbear]

Do any of the Historians know if Peter Berresford Ellis is a credible author on the OP subject of Celtic cultures?

[macwilkin]

Do any of the Historians know if Peter Berresford Ellis is a credible author on the OP subject of Celtic cultures?

Purely for Informational purposes only:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmur...bloodroyal.htm

I make no personal claim of knowledge on this matter.

T.

[Bugbear]

Purely for Informational purposes only:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmur...bloodroyal.htm

I make no personal claim of knowledge on this matter.

T.

Hmmm... Thanks, Cajunscot.

Actually that is not a book I was thinking of. Sounds like a mixed bag.

He wrote a book on the Druids, and a book on the ancient Celt myths, and those are the two I have access to. Guess I will try to hunt down reviews of those.
* Ok, I found the scoop on those books. Never mind.

[Burly Brute]

Thanks all! I will definately look up some of those classes and see what I can work out!

In regards to the celts being a collective of peoples, I totally agree! But, that collection (atleast in my past) has been severely neglected! Which is terribly disapointing.


You all have such great input, I am so glad I joined this site!

The irony is that this site in some respects makes my point moot, in that there are great avenues out there to grow one's knowledge ;-)

[tripleblessed]

Be well assured remarks were not intended to be inflammatory and certainly
not meant as an attack on educators. I come from a family with many
teachers, and we believed books were food as surely as what was at table.
At ten, I asked my father a question about the Aristotle or Socrates that we were currently reading. As he had no answer, he asked it at the Great Books
of the Western World discussion group that occasioned his reading choice.
The history professor who started the group said if I could ask that question
I should be in the group, as I obviously had a grasp of the material, and the answer being beyond the group, I might stimulate discussion. This led to my being an exhibit for the psychology classes on campus and said history professor
being my Little League coach, discussing hitting and fly balls in one venue and Nietzsche and Kant in another. I was at twelve keeping the school records
for my teacher and principal and seeing his struggle with county office, and watching my mother's struggle to reach struggling children in a changing world while being hindered by school board and witless legislative decisions.
At fourteen, I moved into the adult choir at my church, and several were professors who became friends,and I was privy to discussions not normally
heard by teenagers.

My remarks were simply an attempt at stating reality, based on long and intimate and ongoing exposure to the innards of the system. Yes, I have stood behind the podium, but not in the same venue. My mouth disqualified me from working in a situation that structured or political. I have inordinately
enormous respect for those who soldier on in the face of such.

[Bugbear]

Anyone know about this book?

Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales, by Brinley Rees and Alwyn D. Rees, 1961.

I'm mostly interested in how very old traditions have influenced and been absorbed into later traditions. MacMillan of Rathdown's post hints at this.

[Woodsman]

It would be nice if XMarks the Scot or someone would have a reference list of books for recommended reading on Celtic history.

[Lallans]

Not sure if this book was suggested on another post or not but you may be interested in Senator Jim Webb's book "Born Fighting; How The Scots-Irish Shaped America". Might have the kind of history lesson you are looking for. Here is a link for it on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

James Leyburn's The Scotch-Irish: a Social History is a better scholarly work, but still very readable, and a good place to start with the history of the Ulster-Scots. Webb's book isn't bad per se, but there are better one volume Ulster-Scots histories available.

T.

The Irish (to pick one group) who consider themselves "pureblooded" Celts often quibble about the Ulster Scots who became the Scots Irish correctly being considered Celts at all- they of course say not. But I do not join them in that: despite the Angle and Saxon roots of many of us, it must be stated that both due to their long and close association with Celts in Scotland and again in Ireland, which in Ulster at least has resulted in the fact that no outsider can tell them apart (only they can and they often have to ask a lot of questions themselves, like "what football club do you support?")

And if you ask why I'm posting all this, why it's to get in a vote for Born Fighting as the more modern and interesting, if somewhat tendentious, book on the subject.

[ForresterModern]

As to the original OP's post about the lack of teaching of Celtic history, the same could be said of just about any culture in the world, going back thousands of years. It is just that there are not many Babylonians around today (or at least who would call themselves that) to complain about the lack of Babylonian history being taught to the general public. We are each taught curricula chosen by our designated educators that is thought to be relevant to who and where we each are physicall, politically, religiously, etc... And although we all know the old adage that he who fails to study the mistakes of the past is doomed to repeat them (think of Hitler repeating Napoleon's invasion of Russia---both ultimately doomed to failure for the very same reasons), most of what we are taught is only that which is relevant to what is "useful" in today's society---mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.. while the more historical subjects like literature and history and political science are typically relegated to minor requirements or elective status. Again this is speaking in generalities but from my experience as a long-standing student, educator, child of an educator, and parent of two now college aged children.

Youth is wasted on the young, and it is they who should be interested in and taught the lessons of all manner of history, but alas in today's hustle bustle high tech world it is lost in the fog of all that is required for survival in the immediate moment, and relegated to hobby or interest status, unless there is some specific reason to study some part of history. That is why so many of us do not start becoming interested in history until much later in our lives---we have stabilized the "requirements of survival today" with a regular job and settled life, and have time to become interested in other things, while simultaneously recognizing that the older we get the closer our own mortality becomes a reality. Remembering our own lives, hearing stories of the lives of others told to us by friends and family and faculty then become so much more important to us, memories to hold onto, and why most foks getting into geneology are over 40 years old.

History is important, but far too many of us spend too much of our time worried about living in the present or planning for the future to ever turn around and look backward into the lessons and beauty that is the past.

j

[Steve Ashton]

Woodsman,

We actually have an entire section of the forum for members to list their favorite books.
It is called "The Library" and can be found by following this link.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f264/