A Brief History of the Celts cover art

A Brief History of the Celts

Brief Histories

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A Brief History of the Celts

By: Peter Berresford Ellis
Narrated by: Christopher Oxford
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About this listen

For centuries the Celts held sway in Europe. Even after their conquest by the Romans, their culture remained vigorous, ensuring that much of it endured to feed an endless fascination with Celtic history and myths, artwork, and treasures.

A foremost authority on the Celtic peoples and their culture, Peter Berresford Ellis presents an invigoration overview of their world. With his gift for making the scholarly accessible, he discusses the Celts' mysterious origins and early history and investigates their rich and complex society. His use of recently uncovered finds brings fascinating insights into Celtic kings and chieftains, architecture and arts, medicine and religions, myths and legends, making this esesntial listening for any search for Europe's ancient past.

©2003 Peter Berresford Ellis (P)2014 Audible Ltd Ancient Europe Great Britain England Ancient History Ireland

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All stars
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The reader has a bit of a condescending tone to his voice but if you can get past that there is a lot of interesting information in this book

Interesting

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Modern scholarship (archeology, closer analysis of texts and artefacts, etc) has revealed that there was far more to know about the once widespread Celtic civilisation than Julius Caesar (The Gallic Wars) and Romans in general wanted you to know (Rome was humiliated early on by Italian Celts, so don't expect objectivity!)
When I was at school, in Scotland, in the dying years of the British Empire, you had to study Latin to go to uni, which I didn't mind at all, because it's logical and concise and rewarding (you know when you've got it right!) We also knew that the Romans invaded "Scotland" a wee bit, but thanks, probably, as much to the midges as the ferocious natives, they didn't stay long. We also, surprisingly, learnt Irish history from the viewpoint of the indigenous Catholic population-("my enemy's enemy is my friend"?) and we knew fine well our Christian heritage was Irish not Roman, but Anglo-Saxons, like the Romans before them, controlled the propaganda and still do.

Forget all the Brigadoon and "The Quiet Man", even - though I still enjoy it - Whisky Galore- Celts were/are everywhere, sometimes hidden.

Forgotten/suppressed?

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I've wondered about the tribes beyond the Roman Empire, and this is a well researched book on the Celts. I found particularly the chapters on Druids and religion fascinating.

erudite and good history

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The story is truly excellent and very well told in nice chapters. However the narration is very strange. Aside from the yo-yo annoying tone in the voice, why on earth he chooses to embellish the quotes from Irish academics with a Darby O’Gill lilt beggars belief. I suppose being Irish added to this offence, but why would a foreign (English?) narrator assume that a Dublin-based academic sounds like a Mayo farmer? Just use your own bloody voice. Funnily enough when quoting the Romans he didn’t add a comedic Italian waiter routine. Very strange. Very odd. And very off-putting.

Furthermore, his pronunciation of Irish is way off, but I was willing to let that go until the Leprechaun appeared and ruined it.

A real shame (and something that could easily have been avoided with a good editor) as the content is interesting and informative.

Great book. Poor narration

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I've always been very interested in the history of the Celts, but after listening the this book, I have to recognize that I knew almost nothing.

In the 'brief' history, the state of the art about knowledge of the Celts is revealed in a clear, complete but (dare I say it?) concise manner.
When I listened to the author's prologue, I had the impression of hearing a rant, but after listening to the rest of the book, I can quite understand the need for it.

Excellent book!

A full account of today's knowledge of the Celts

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Fascinating and detailed , I've already relistened to a number of chapters... Very impressed

10 out of 10

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Audible should have the complete 'Brief History series' Narrated. Especially a Brief History of Ireland.

the narrator was terrific.

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I found the book well written, very well narrated, it systematically steps through Celtic history, and is full of fascinating facts I would like to check by visiting the places detailed.

Fascinating.

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I just found through my DNA that I'm a Celt. fills in my history brilliantly

my history

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the author/ narrator tended to talk about other books and how he disagreed with them. It is probably more suitable for students studying this element of history and is probably extremely useful in that respect. I found it dull

I struggled with this book, it was very technical

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