Product Description

In a series of 54 stunning full-colour maps covering 3,000 years and spanning the whole of Europe, this book comprehensively charts the dramatic history of the Celts from their origins in the Bronze Age to their present-day diaspora. Taking into account the latest research and academic controversies over the historical identity of the Celts, the atlas deals separately with the Continental Celts (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Anatolia), the Atlantic Celts (Britain and Ireland) and the Modern Celts and the current state of Celtic culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395260 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

About the Author
John Haywood is a Fellow at the University of Lancaster and Fellow of the Royal Society of Great Britain. Among his previous books are Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age (Thames & Hudson, 2000), The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, The Cassell Atlas of World History, and The Ancient Civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful reference work
This comprehensive atlas and history book looks at archaeology and the military, cultural, literary and political history of the Celts. It opens with a Chronology list dating from 1200BC.

Part One (Continental Celts) deals with language, early bronze age Europe, Celtic migrations, Celts in Anatolia Italy and Iberia, trade routes, religion, the Roman conquest of Gaul and the kingdom of Brittany, among other topics. This section includes a diagram of the development of the Celtic language group.

Part Two discusses inter alia: prehistoric Celtic Britain and Ireland, the Roman conquest of Britain, the Picts and the Scots, King Arthur and the golden ages of Wales and Ireland.

Part Three investigates the Celtic Diaspora to places like Canada, the USA, Australia and South Africa, the Celtic languages today, the Celtic countries and the Celtic League which includes Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany.

Of the surviving languages, Welsh has the greatest number of speakers, followed by Breton. Scottish Gaelic still survives in the Outer Hebrides and Irish is still spoken by small numbers in western parts of Eire. Manx and Cornish are "hobby" languages with less than 100 speakers each.

The book concludes with a list of further reading and an index. The text is enhanced with more than 200 illustrations of which 180 are in full colour and 54 beautiful maps. It is an extensive reference work filled with fascinating facts and illuminating history.

The best atlas of Celtic history available
Unlike other 'atlases' of the Celts on the market at the moment, this really is an atlas, having lots of large, clearly drawn and amazingly detailed maps covering Celtic history from prehistoric times to the 20th century. The text presents a concise narrative to complement the maps and is well written (personally I would have welcomed a bit more text). The author addresses the current controversiees about Celtic identity in a very even handed way: he seems very aware of the passions they can generate and there is a certain amount of fence sitting at times. He is not one of those who think the Celts didn't exist but he is also critical of some of the myths and popular misconceptions about them. The book is well illustrated and attractively designed. Recommended

Exceptional
This book is very good at explaining the origins of the Celts. I have widely read on this subject and I believe this to be one of the most concise accounts of the spread of Celtic culture and language throughout Europe. It charts the impacts of the Celts on other civilisations and the current state of Celtic culture which, thought to be in its twilight, is now seeing a resurgence.